


Stumbling

by Sakrabur



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: A lot of friendgroup dynamics, Alternate Universe - College/University, Dates, F/M, Flirting, Friendship, It's not underaged drinking bc it's in Germany, Jealousy, Jung Yoonoh | Jaehyun is Whipped, M/M, Minor Jung Yoonoh | Jaehyun/Lee Taeyong, Misunderstandings, Multi, Overthinking, Platonic Cuddling, Slow Burn, Some Swearing, Taeyong seems like an asshole but isn't, University, doyoung has some issues, mentions of alkohol, some fighting but not much, they become friends first
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-24
Updated: 2019-12-06
Packaged: 2019-12-06 21:25:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 19
Words: 30,506
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18225605
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sakrabur/pseuds/Sakrabur
Summary: Doyoung has crushes quite often, but he is convinced he will never end up in a serious relationship. He despises people being clumsy, especially around their crushes. The problem is that he belongs to those people.Jaehyun is fascinated by this boy, that seems to be clumsy around people, but has an aura of arrogance around him. Jaehyun thinks it's endearing. If only the boy would look his way...Aka. Jaehyun is whipped and Doyoung is too occupied with his issues to notice.





	1. New Beginnings

**Author's Note:**

> So this is a Sunday evening impulsive idea and I hope you enjoy this ride.  
> This story is not proofread at all so feel free to point out any mistakes and to leave some feedback!  
> I am currently reworking the chapters, to work out some of the mistakes, so excuse eventual errors!

Love comes in many ways, may it be a crush on the person in the train, that just captures you with their demeanour or may it be a person that serves your coffee in the morning. People look for different types of love in their lives. Some just want someone to trust and talk to, others want physical love and some hope to find the one, that understands and loves them in every way. Some just look on the outside of a person, yet others look for the personality. Still, all of those are called love. 

~

Doyoung was the kind of person who falls in love easily, even though the feelings where never more than an infatuation. The feelings instantly stop the moment he sees an imperfection in somebody. Sometimes he would be crushing on somebody that he just passes in the streets or that he exchanges a few words with, without ever seeing them again. 

Doyoung thought a lot about love in his live. He was pretty sure he would never end up in a relationship, mainly because he did not know if he wanted to. He thought he would never be able to find a person he would be able to trust enough to let them into his live and share everything with them.   
Surprisingly he wasn’t an antisocial person. He had a small group he would call his friends and knew a lot of people. Yet none of those knew him to an extend that he believes would be necessary for a relationship. 

He wasn't a bad person, but his thoughts drifted in the wrong direction way too often for his taste. There were moments he was very fed up with his friends solely because they had a habit he did not like or them having said something he doesn’t agree with. He tried not to show that though. 

~

At the start of his first term at the university he was going home from a boring day of classes, when he spotted a boy at the other end of the train he just entered. Doyoung stared for a while until the boy looked back at him, showing no reaction to Doyoung’s gaze. The boy was wearing a suit that was just a tad too large for his body and he had a small backpack on his back. His outer appearance was nothing special, but still Doyoung reacted. Something about his manners, the way his back was arched slightly, and his hand rested loosely on the seat in front of him made Doyoung heart rate quicken. The boy was putting on a façade, he wasn’t a cool and collected as he acted, but he had the confidence to pull it off. It was sexy for Doyoung even though he could not say why. 

When the train reached his stop, he got up carefully, making his way to the door. He mentally prepared himself to push the button to open the door so he would not fuck up in case the boy was watching him. 

If Doyoung had to name one thing he hated, then it was people being clumsy. Which was inconvenient, since he himself was a clumsy person, especially when he was nervous or was crushing one someone. Like he was at that moment. The train came to a stop and Doyoung took a last glance at the boy. To Doyoung horror, the boy stood in front of the other door of the car, looking at him. He quickly turned back to the door in front of him and pushed the button. Except he missed. He felt heat rising to his cheeks and pressed the button again, for real this time. He left the train quickly, making his way to his car without looking back. If he looked back, he would’ve noticed a boy watching him, with a soft smile on his lips.

A few days later Doyoung met up with a friend called Johnny after his last class of the day. He was lucky enough to have some friends from secondary school that went to the same University he visits. When he approached Johnny, one of his closest friends, he noticed some other people around him. There was a girl, that caught his eyes, since she had a very different style than the people around her did. She was even wearing a hat. And she looked comfortable in those clothes. Needless to say, Doyoung was crushing again. He wasn't sure if he liked the girl paying no attention to him or not.  
Then he greeted Johnny who had an intense discussion about the importance of some type of music with two boys, who looked too young to attend University. After Doyoung and Johnny left, his friend told him about the people he met. On their way they passed a boy reading a book, who looked up and smiled when they approached. Doyoung didn't notice him.

~

During the following weeks Doyoung got closer to the people Johnny introduced to him to. Two of them, Mark and Donghyuck met each other during the first week and kicked off immediately with each other. Another boy joined them for a while, but left, when he found other people to hang out with. And then there was the girl.

Her name was Soojeon and she and Doyoung got along very well after they finally started talking. Their talking started to become flirting quickly, even though Soojeon had a boyfriend. Doyoung thought they were flirting as friends, just for fun, but everybody around them seemed to think differently about that. Despite Doyoung thinking it was just friendly flirting, he would still like it to be real. Doyoung and his friends often discussed the situation during the classes they had together.

They shared the class with a boy who listened closely to everything they talked about, smiling less than before.

~

The news of Soojeon’s breakup with her boyfriend left Doyoung with mixed feelings. It turns out, that her boyfriend did not think the flirting between Soojeon and Doyoung was friendly. If even her boyfriend thought that, it might be true after all.

Doyoung tried to speak normally with Soojeon after the breakup, but the flirting with Soojeon got less and their relationship crumbled. It was over, after Soojeon got a new boyfriend just a few weeks after her breakup. Doyoung hated people that changed partners so soon. His friends did not seem to care that Soojeon did not hang out with them anymore, but there was one boy that was happy to hear about that.


	2. Meetings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Doyoung meets 'a boy'.

The time the second term began it was already spring and after a long period of rain the sun was out again. Doyoung was in a good mood since he spent most of his break working on projects he wanted to finish, and he even found a part time job at Subway near the university. 

His first class of the new term was with a professor Doyoung really liked, so he chose to sit in the front of the room. When he sat down only a few people were already in there.   
Two of them were chatting animatedly while three other people had their phone out, not paying attention to him at all. 

New classes mean new people and Doyoung hoped that there was someone in his class who was decent enough to talk to. For now, he decided to take out his phone as well, to look through tumblr for a while. 

The room started to fill slowly. Eventually Doyoung put his phone away, looking around the room to see who he could befriend. 

To his dismay, most of the people seemed to already know somebody in the class. At that moment the door opened, and a boy entered, a smile on his face. Doyoung kept watching him until the boy reached the seat next to Doyoung.

“Hi, is this seat taken?” the boy asked.

“No.” Doyoung managed to choke out, not being prepared to speak so soon. 

They did not talk to each other for the rest of the class. Doyoung observed that the boy next to him was invested with the class, he was answering and asking a lot of questions throughout. Doyoung himself answered a few questions and took notes for things he deemed important.

After the class ended, Doyoung packed and left saying goodbye to the boy who sat next to him. The boy said a soft “Goodbye” as well. 

What Doyoung didn’t see was the disappointed gaze of the boy, that followed Doyoung out of the door.   
~  
The next week, Doyoung sat in the same seat as last time for his class. He half expected the boy from last time to sit next to somebody else, probably a person he met in other classes. 

Doyoung thought it was easy enough for that boy to find friends. For what Doyoung had seen, the boy was attractive and probably nice too. 

When the boy entered the room, he met Doyoung’s gaze and smiled at him. Doyoung noticed the dimples on the boy’s face, while said boy made his way to the table Doyoung was sitting on. 

This time Doyoung was prepared and he managed to greet the boy without stumbling over his words. The boy sat down next to him with a small wave and a smile. 

The professor arrived but had to leave shortly after putting her bag down to organize something so the students were left to their own devices. Doyoung felt like socializing today so he decided to start a conversation with the boy next to him. 

The question was how. Small talk was never Doyoung’s forte, so he searched his brain for the right topic to start a conversation with the boy next to him. His brain went back to talking about the weather far too often for Doyoung to be able to come up with something useful. 

He jumped a little when the boy next to him spoke. Doyoung never would’ve expected for the boy to start a conversation with him on his own.  
“Would you like to compare homework with me?”

Doyoung felt himself smile at the boy next to him. Comparing homework was safe and Doyoung wouldn’t have to think too hard about what to say.  
“Sure, what did you get for number one?” 

Comparing homework with the boy next to him proofed to be very pleasant. The boy managed to have discussions about different answers they got and the mistakes they made, without giving Doyoung the feeling that the boy thought Doyoung was stupid. 

For other people it might not be a big deal, but Doyoung hated it when people didn’t take him seriously and dismissed his thoughts and concerns without telling him a proper reason. 

When the teacher returned, Doyoung felt strangely sad that he had to stop talking to the boy. The class went by eventless and after it ended Doyoung decided to leave without starting another conversation with the boy, because he didn’t want to be intrusive. He settled for a simple ‘Bye’ and a small wave. He smiled to himself when he heard what the boy said: “See you next week!”

Later at lunch Doyoung spaced out, while Mark and Haechan were arguing about grammar like they often did. He was thinking back to the boy, his eyes widening when he realized he didn’t even know his name.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, the university they're going to is (like) a German University in case you were wondering :)  
> I hope you enjoyed this chapter~


	3. Mistakes

Doyoung spend most of the following classes he shared with the boy with trying to find out the boy’s name.

At first, he tried to find a name tag on his folder or his stationary, but the boy’s things where clean and bare and his folder only had the name of the class on it. 

Doyoung knew it was irrational to try to find out the name by observing instead of just asking the boy for his name. He didn’t even know why he was so keen to find out, but he guessed it was just polite to know who he’s talking to every class.

After three weeks of trying to find out the name of the boy, Doyoung got lucky. It seems his professor learned the name of the boy somehow.  
“Could you please read out your answer for number three, Jaehyun?”

Jaehyun. That’s the boys name. It was a small detail, but now Doyoung did not feel like he was talking to a stranger anymore. He looked at Jaehyun while he read out his answer. Doyoung noticed a small error and wondered if the Prof would point it out. 

Turns out his Prof either didn’t notice or didn’t care. But Doyoung cared. It bothers him that there was a mistake in Jaehyun’s notes for some reason. He thought about raising his hand and ask the Prof in front of the class but decided against it.

As much as he hated inaccuracies, he did not want to come of as a know it all and an asshole, for pointing out a minor mistake a Professor made. So he kept quiet. The class went on uneventful. When the Prof dismissed the class, Doyoung gathered his courage and asked Jaehyun: 

“Hey, could you explain number three again for me?”.

Doyoung didn’t know why he did it, he mentally cringed at himself, he sounded like he wanted an excuse to talk to Jaehyun more. And all that just because there was a tiny error. Why would he even ask for help when he knew the answer anyway? 

He watched in horror as Jaehyun looked shocked for a moment and how his expression turned confused after that. Doyoung looked away, ashamed of himself, anxiously awaiting Jaehyun’s response. That way he missed the smirk forming on Jaehyun’s face. Doyoung was sure he was going to sit alone in this class for the rest of the semester, if he just hadn’t said anything…

“Sure, what do you want to know?”

With widened eyes Doyoung looked at Jaehyun’s face. There was a soft smile in place now.

“The.. I mean.. There..” Doyoung took a deep breath and cursed himself for his nervousness. 

“I think there is a mistake in your answer.” He managed to say. Great, Jaehyun looked disappointed now.

“Not a big one, otherwise the Prof would have pointed it out and I don’t want to criticise you, I just wanted to let you know, so you don’t learn the wrong thing and I might be wrong about the mistake, in which case I sound like a complete asshole now.” 

Doyoung added quickly. He needed to get out right now. Keeping on his rambling he would only embarrass himself further, so he decided to excuse himself.

“I’m sorry I need to go now, excuse me!”

Doyoung stayed just long enough to catch Jaehyun’s hesitant and confused: “Alright, see you next week.”, before he speed-walked out of the room in an attempt to keep some of his dignity. 

~

Because he did not want to run into Jaehyun at the subway station he rushed to the nearest Toilet. Luckily there weren’t many people around. Doyoung felt like crying, but he couldn’t. Not when he knew he would have to leave the stall eventually. 

He sat down on the toilet seat reading the things people shared on the walls of the stall. He knew he needed to calm down and that it was not a big deal. Jaehyun probably thought nothing of it. Doyoung didn’t know how much time passed before he felt ready to go home. The feeling that Jaehyun was judging him for his behaviour was lingering. During the train ride, Doyoung kept his head low.

Jaehyun went to his following class, feeling confused at what just had happened with Doyoung. Why was Doyoung so nervous? Jaehyun didn’t mind, he even thought it was cute to see Doyoung flustered. Still, he would much rather have Doyoung feel comfortable around him.

~

The week went past to quickly for Doyoung and he dreaded having to go to the class he shared with Jaehyun. He didn’t know how to act, if he was going to sit on his usual spot or if he should sit somewhere else. Would Jaehyun act like nothing happened, would he avoid Doyoung?

Doyoung decided to sit where he normally sat, it would seem weird if he changed places wouldn’t it? Whenever the door opened, he looked up in Panic in case it would be Jaehyun. After a few minutes he decided to busy himself with his phone to distract himself from what happened with Jaehyun. The time he looked up was because a Person was approaching his table. Jaehyun smiled at him.

“Hey.” He said.

“Hello.” That was what Doyoung managed to say, paired with a smile, that Doyoung knew was forced to the point it was obvious for others. The corners of his mouth twitched. Doyoung looked back to the front, not knowing what to say to Jaehyun.

“Thank you for last week. I looked at the question from last time again. You were right, there was a mistake.” 

Doyoung panicked.

“No problem.”

He knew his face was read by now, which was one of the reasons he couldn’t bring himself to look at Jaehyun. The clock on the wall ticked quietly, slowly. Doyoung was aware of Jaehyun looking at him. Was he expecting something of him?

“Would you like to talk about our homework?”

Doyoung did expect a lot, but this was not what he was prepared for.

“Sure, what have you got?”

It was awkward at first. Doyoung was hesitant to point out any errors he found in Jaehyun’s answers, anxious to cross a line he wasn’t aware of. 

Jaehyun didn’t show he was uncomfortable, so Doyoung grew more confident the more they talked. When the teacher entered the room, he was almost disappointed they had to stop their conversation. 

Both paid attention in class, leaving no room to talk more. Not wanting to push his luck with Jaehyun, Doyoung left after the class, with a “goodbye” and a genuine smile.

The other boy’s smile dropped after the door closed behind Doyoung, feeling a little bit of disappointment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I was informed that my chapters have watpad length by a good friend, so I will try to make the chapters longer in the future!  
> I hope you enjoyed the chapter!~


	4. It's a start

It has been four weeks since what Doyoung called ‘the incident’ in his head and he still hasn’t talked about Jaehyun to any of his friends. Johnny will be disappointed when he finds out about Jaehyun. With the semester having 2 weeks left, they established a routine of comparing their homework before the class started. 

Over the course of the semester Doyoung grew less anxious and more comfortable around Jaehyun. But still, at the end of the class they always parted with nothing more than a goodbye and a sad smile.

When Doyoung finally realized he enjoyed Jaehyun’s company, he tried to think of a good reason to spend time with him outside of class. There was no way Doyoung would just ask for Jaehyun’s number, that would just be to cliché and Doyoung lacked the confidence to pull it off. 

Normally he would just wait for the other person to make a move to be friends and if they didn’t, he would just leave it at that. It was different with Jaehyun. He did not want to just be remembered by Jaehyun as the kind of weird person he sat next to in one of his classes. Did people his age still ask people to be friends? Doyoung cursed his brain for even thinking something like that. 

At lunchtime, he sat in the cafeteria with Johnny, Mark and Haechan, but he was spaced out again thinking of a way out of his Dilemma of not wanting to approach Jaehyun but also not wanting to waste the opportunity to make friends with him. He signed loudly. Too loud apparently, as all of his friends where staring at him with very confused faces.

“You alright, buddy?” Johnny asked concerned.

“I’m fine, just stressed. Don’t worry.” 

Doyoung thought it was convincing enough for them to stop paying close attention to him, but he was wrong.

“Dude, you look like you are trying to solve the secrets of humanity in your head, what are you even thinking about?” Haechan asked, just the tiniest bit too shrill for Doyoung’s liking.

“I’m fine, really, it’s the last two weeks of the semester, let me be stressed in peace please.” Mark chuckled at his words and the others smiled as well and finally averted their attention to something else. 

His friends surely would know what to do in his situation. Heck, they would already have made friends with Jaehyun from the beginning. Too bad he wasn’t his friends. To bad he still didn’t figure out what to do or say. Should he slip a note with his phone number in Jaehyun’s folder? Doyoung smiled bitterly at his thoughts cursing his silly brain again, for not being helpful at all. 

The second last class of the term went by like it always did, they compared their homework, talked about other courses and exams and then paid attention in class. 

When the professor dismissed them Doyoung stayed seated for longer than he normally would, while he packed his bag slowly. He was trying to concentrate on the things he put away. Because his thoughts were racing, and he was very aware of Jaehyun’s eyes following bis moves. When he finished packing, he looked up. Jaehyun was looking directly at him, his usual smile in place. In his eyes Doyoung saw something he interpreted as expectant excitement. He didn’t understand what he saw, he only knew it was to much for him, Jaehyun’s gaze being way too intense. Needless to say, his mind goes blank. It looked like Jaehyun wanted to say something, but before he could say anything, Doyoung whispered a soft “goodbye”, barely more than a breath. With that he turned around and ran without looking back. 

He hated it, hated the way he wasn’t able to talk to Jaehyun normally, without losing control over his mind. He hated the way he wasn’t able to face Jaehyun and tell him what he thought. At some point Jaehyun would have enough of his behaviour, he would not bother to even talk to Doyoung anymore for sure. And Doyoung was afraid. Afraid to be judged by a person whose company he enjoyed. Afraid to never get the chance to be friends with him.

Afraid to have hurt Jaehyun with his constant running away. He was sick of it. On that day in the summer he made a decision. The only thing he needed to figure out was how to realize what he wanted. At that moment his phone vibrated with a new Email. And maybe that was his chance to make it right.

*

Jaehyun was left hurt and confused. Doyoung seemed to have finally grown comfortable around him. In that moment in the classroom he really thought he had the chance to ask for Doyoung’s number so they could meet up sometime. Because as much Jaehyun enjoyed to discuss, homework with Doyoung, he wanted to spend time with him outside of class as well.  
In the past year Jaehyun has learned a lot about Doyoung, both through his own experiences with the boy, but also through watching him with his friends during last semesters classes. That way he knew he should not take Doyoung’s behaviour personally, but he could not help it. The moment they would leave the classroom next week, there was no way of telling if they would see each other ever again. That was something Jaehyun certainly did not want to happen.

*

The last week arrived and Doyoung felt beyond nervous. What if Jaehyun said no? He sat in his seat as always, trying to revise some of his notes for one of his classes. He thought about that day a lot, about how he would act when Jaehyun entered the room. Of course, all that was shattered when Jaehyun actually entered the room. Doyoung closed his notes with a little too much force, so that it slid across the table and landed in the lap of the girl sitting in the seat. While he was apologizing to the girl, Jaehyun made his way to their table, smiling fondly at Doyoung’s slight blushing. 

Even if Doyoung was embarrassed, he set a goal for himself for this lesson. He looked up at Jaehyun.

“Hey, how are you today?” He said, sounding weirdly confident in his own ears, as if he didn’t just do something very embarrassing.

“I’m quite alright, what about you?” His tone was teasing but held no malice. 

“I’m good as well, thanks.” Doyoung felt awkward doing small talk like that. He needed to get his plan into action or else he would go crazy. 

“There is an open discussion about research on the representation of friendship in literature August 8th, wanna go?” 

Anxiety kicked in when Jaehyun didn’t respond but just stared. It was hard for Doyoung to decipher what Jaehyun was thinking.

“Of course, you don’t have to go, maybe you don’t want to go with me, which is fine, you can go alone too. Or you could bring friends, you don’t have to go alone just because you aren’t going with me, I’m in no place to decide that for you or any of your friends. Maybe you don’t have the time to go which is fine too…” Finally, he stopped his rambling. 

Not wanting to look at the boy next to him, Doyoung looked to his other side to see the amused look on the girls’ face. He sent her a shy grin, she seemed to be a nice person for what Doyoung gathered from the weeks they spend in the same class. 

Eventually he turned to Jaehyun, wondering if he was going to get an answer of him.

“I would love to go.”

“But?” Doyoung could not help it but think he was going to get rejected, this was a stupid idea in the first place, who would even go to an open discussion at university during their term break?

“No buts, I want to go with you.”

Maybe Doyoung was not prepared for Jaehyun agreeing to coming with him, but that only made it better. He felt relief wash over him and he felt better about his relationship to Jaehyun than ever before. It would have been easy for Jaehyun to just say no. They would part their ways after class and that would’ve been it. Except now it wasn’t. A smile bloomed on Doyoung’s face and he finally, after all the time he spend with Jaehyun this semester, turned to Jaehyun with a grin. 

“Thank you, I’m happy you want to come! I can text you the details if you give me your number, if you want to?” He really did it, he asked somebody for their phone number. 

“Sure thing!” Jaehyun said as he took the phone Doyoung held out for him. Suddenly Doyoung was glad he cleaned his screen a few minutes ago, he didn’t want Jaehyun to think his phone was gross. 

The rest of the class went by quickly and Doyoung did not feel tense around Jaehyun anymore. They parted ways after the lesson was over, this time they knew they were going to see each other again.

“I will text you when I’m home, see you.” With that Doyoung left the class and for once in a long time both of them were smiling.


	5. Arrangements

He didn’t think his plan through. Since he was the one who had the number of the other, he would have to be the one to write the message first. To his dismay he also said he would send it that same day. Normally Doyoung would ask his friends for advice. He always did, but he couldn’t now. They still had no idea Jaehyun exists. Maybe he should lie to them, saying he just met Jaehyun now. The whole ride home Doyoung was thinking what to write and what to do. At home he finally gave in and sent a short message to the group-chat with Johnny, Mark and Haechan. 

You: Guys, I need help! I´m sending a message to a guy I just met. It’s about details on an event, how do I do this?!

Mork: Just say hi Im Doyoung, heres the details

Donkey: Mork, no. This isn’t busisiisines (You know what I mean). Just write ‘Yo, the thing is then & there’

You: Thanks guys -_- 

Why did he even bother, he seldom gets the answer he wishes for anyway. Somehow it still reduced his anxiety, seeing how little other people care about messages like that.

But maybe Jaehyun cares. 

Doyoung was screwed. 

He managed to come up with a text he was comfortable with at half nine that day, taking a deep breath before hitting send.

You: Hey, this is Doyoung. 😊 The discussion is on 8th August at 15 o’clock in Z2-103 We could meet up at the main entrance and go there together if you’d like to? Good night!

With that he turns off his phone and tries to fall asleep. It takes longer than he anticipated, the thought of Jaehyun’s reaction to his suggestion to go to his discussion and he was anxious about his answer.

The rational part of Doyoung’s brain knew it wasn’t a big deal and that Jaehyun wouldn’t think about this much. He could not help to worry about it regardless. Eventually he fell into a dreamless sleep.

The semester break just started which means he was able to sleep in. In theory this was great, but his body decided it was a good idea to wake up at the usual time. Because of this Doyoung sat at the kitchen table at 6 o’clock staring at his cereal to avoid looking at his phone.

It laid on his bedside table, seemingly mocking him from afar, for not being able to even turn it on. Should he get some work done for University? But that was boring and he didn’t need to take a test for another month. He could meet up with his friends, they were probably bored too. The only downside to that would be that he would have to turn on his phone. That would mean seeing Jaehyun’s answer. Or seeing that he didn’t answer. 

After he finished his now soggy cereal he went to his room and found one of the books he had in his room for a long time without reading them. It was a short and very cheesy love story. Doyoung enjoyed the story none the less, since it had some unexpected turns and well written character dynamics. 

The book was finished soon. He then decided it was time to face Jaehyun’s message. Mainly because he did not want to be rude to the person he wanted to be friends with. 

Jaehyun: That sounds great! Let’s meet 15 minutes earlier, so we have enough time to go there? 😊

You: Sure! I’ll see you then.

It was less complicated than Doyoung thought it would be. Jaehyun even sent an emoji back. Now that this was out of the way, Doyoung could ask his friends if they wanted to do something. 

Mark, Haechan, Johnny and Ten, another one of his friends, were coming over later that day. The evening started getting livelier the longer they talked, and they had a few drinks as well. At some point Haechan asked about the guy he ‘invited on a date’ earlier that day.

“It’s not a big deal, really. He’s a guy in my class and we talked and then I didn’t want to never see him again, because he’s nice and then there was this email about a discussion at school and I asked him to come with me and I expected him to say no, but he said yes, and now I’m going to meet him and oh my God, what do I do?” 

Everyone looked at him, confusion evident on their faces.

“Well I didn’t expect that there is someone out there that could make you so attached in such a short time, that you actually ask them to do something together. What happened to the ‘If they don’t come to me to be friends, I don’t wanna be friends’ attitude?” Ten asked after a moment of silence.

“You knew him for like a day, must be love at first sight then huh?” Haechan added, his grin fading when Mark slapped his shoulder. 

Doyoung’s face turned red at those words. Love huh?

“Actually, I’ve known him for the whole semester. We aren’t friends or anything, we just talked.”

“And you didn’t tell us?! I’m offended” Doyoung rolled his eyes at Ten’s exaggerated reaction. 

“That’s because it isn’t anything that I deemed important!”

“You still lied yesterday thought. Why would you if it isn’t a big deal.” Mark said with his eyebrows raised.

Haechan ohhed softly, otherwise everyone was quiet, waiting for Doyoung’s reaction. 

“Well, at first I was just comparing homework with him, but then I was acting weird. He didn’t seem to mind my behaviour; he was still nice to me. I just didn’t want to lose someone that can tolerate me and who is smart enough to have a proper discussion with.” 

“But why did you lie?”

“At first I didn’t think meeting him was anything important enough to tell you and then I thought it was to late to tell you. I thought Johnny would be angry to find out I didn’t tell him immediately.” 

“I don’t care about that, why would you think that?” 

“Johnny, I can see you clenching your fists.” 

“Shut up Haechan. Doyoung, I’m going to forgive you if you tell me everything now.”

“Sorry to disappoint, but there is nothing to tell.” Doyoung said, his reddened face betraying his words. Not that it was a big deal, but Haechan’s implication of Doyoung being in love made him blush.

“He asked me to sit next to me on the first day and we started comparing homework a few weeks into the semester. I thought I ruined that when I corrected something he did wrong in his homework, when the teacher didn’t. He was nice about it thought. I went out of the room after class and said goodbye and nothing more. Then I asked him if he wanted to go to that discussion with me. That’s it.” 

“I call bullshit, you’re blushing.” Ten calls out.

“I second that!” Haechan added.

“I hate all of you, he’s just a friend.” With these words all the eyes were on Doyoung again.  
“So you do admit he’s your friend? And you are the one who initiated a meeting outside of class? I want to meet him, he seems great.” Ten said eventually.

"He does, if he’s worth Doyoung’s effort, he must be amazing.” Johnny added. 

“Thank you for acknowledging my great taste in friends, but it can’t be that great. I’m friends with y’all after all." At that the atmosphere shifted immediately and they were back at their usual bickering and banter.

Doyoung was relieved that Johnny seemed to be appeased. He was glad his friends didn’t press any further on the topic of his relationship with Jaehyun. There was nothing to be told after all.

The night proceeded as it normally does when they get together. They had far too many drinks for it to be healthy and everyone got touchier and more emotional. After Haechan poured out his heart about how much he loves everyone, all the while squeezing the life out of Mark, they decided to go to bed. Or rather to ‘bed’. Doyoung had lain some Mattresses in his room to make his floor comfortable for everyone to sleep on.

Just before going to sleep, squeezed between Johnny and Ten, Doyoung took a last look onto his phone.

Jaehyun: I’m excited! See you then!

A smile ghosted over Doyoung’s lips as he fell asleep peacefully. Everything was going to be fine.


	6. Angel

The 8th of August. Not to long into the Semester break, but also disconnected enough from the constant input of new information. The day he`ll meet Jaehyun outside of Uni for the first time. To say he was nervous would be an understatement. He was absolutely terrified. It wasn’t the normal nervous excitement you’ll feel when you meet up with a new person for the first time. Doyoung was simply anxious about the situation being awkward, him being weird or rude enough for Jaehyun to never want to see him again. 

His fear was irrational again and he knew it, but deep down he had the feeling that Jaehyun was just nice to him or really interested in the topic that would be discussed later. He got up on that day, immediately being fully awake when his alarm went off. He went to the bathroom like he always does. He looks in the mirror, seeing that his face was pale, even paler than usual. 

He contemplated putting on some makeup, while he brushed his teeth. Would Jaehyun think it is to much or even that Doyoung is trying to impress him? Oh god, what was he going to wear? At that Doyoung finished up brushing his teeth quickly and brushed through his hair, wondering if parting it would look like he cared to much. He decided to leave it down, like he usually does. 

Even if he was feeling nauseous and wasn’t hungry at all, he forced down some cereal anyway, knowing he wouldn’t get anything to eat until much later in the day. Then he stood in front of his wardrobe. It was warm outside the sun already heating up the air. Doyoung was going to sweat a lot, considering his nerves and the high temperatures of the summer. He didn’t have to leave for another few hours, but he knew he was going to be late if he didn’t get dressed right then. 

He was definitely going to wear short pants, a nice pair, since it was academic discussion. Considering the fact that he only had to pairs that would fit the occasion and one of them being in the laundry, he settled for the cream coloured (and clean) one quickly. The shirt was the bigger problem. Normally he would wear a sleeveless shirt, but it would not fit the occasion. A dress shirt would be too much would it? What will Jaehyun wear? He needed help. 

You: Ten, what do I wear? I’m dying over here T T

Tenoutaten: Well, considering that you are going to an academic event in your holidays (Why do you even do that?) and it is like 40 degrees Celsius outside, one of your shirts with the collar and one of those goodie-two-shoes-pants I hate so much. 

Tenoutaten: Oh, oh, wear the dark blue one!!!!!1

You: That’s so tight tho?

Tenoutaten: Exactly! Thank me later 😉

You: You make no sense, but thx, I’ll get you some coffee sometime!

Tenoutaten: Yure the best!!!! <3

You: Yure okay I guess

Tenoutaten: Shut up and get dressed, bitch

Doyoung was thankful to have Ten as a friend, he really was, but sometimes he was just a pain in the ass. At least he answers his phone very fast and gives actual advise. The dark blue shirt it is then. 

At this point Doyoung still had 1 ½ hours to kill before he had to leave. To distract himself he decided to clean his room for a bit. About half an hour before he had to leave, panic kicked back in. What if I’m late? Doyoung put on his shoes, grabbed his bag and left for his bike. He shouldn’t drive too fast or else would be drenched in sweat in no time. He managed to catch the train before the one he was planning to take. With the one he was planning to take at first, he would’ve already arrived earlier at the university than he needed to. Needless to say, Doyoung was far too early. 

With nothing better to do, he sat down in the University hall, watching the numbers on the clock on his phone turn slowly, contemplating to just tell Jaehyun he got sick. But he stayed. He couldn’t do that to Jaehyun and Doyoung hated lying. Or shying away from things. 

How should he greet Jaehyun? In the classroom he always already sat in his seat, so there was no greeting etiquette to be followed. 

Doyoung let out a groan, careful not to disturb others by being too loud. 

It was the semester break, but the University was still filled with people. Students learning, Students working and a student being desperate about meeting up with a person they’ve known for a whole semester and which normally wouldn’t be a be a problem, if it weren’t for their irrational brain. 

Said student watched a young couple that day, disdaining the way the girl giggled shyly, and hid her face behind her hands after she dropped her pen. The boy with her looked at her with disgusting adoration for her inability to control her body enough to not let the pen drop to the ground. A minute or two passed and the pen was still on the ground, forgotten since the couple was now kissing softly. 

Disgusting.

Doyoung was relieved to see it was only fifteen minutes until he was going to meet Jaehyun. He decided it was time to leave for the entrance. He didn’t want it to seem like he was there far too early by coming out of the University instead of going in, so Jaehyun wouldn’t have a reason to feel bad. 

Then he waited. The time went slowly, the fingers on Doyoung’s watch seemed to be stuck in honey, while his thoughts raced in his head. They where bouncing of each other, going into all directions without stopping. Most of them were centred around his upcoming meeting with Jaehyun. 

Doyoung had to wait no longer than 5 Minutes, but it felt like an eternity. 

And then he was there.

“Hey, did you wait long?”

That was an easy question, Doyoung can do this.

“Yes.” 

Jaehyun looked confused and Doyoung did not know why, until he realized his mistake.

“I mean no, I just arrived, sorry.” He turned red at that hating the fact that he fucked up the greeting, even if there was no awkward hug-or-handshake moment. Doyoung was grateful for that moment not existing, but he was also mortified by his own actions. Great start.

Jaehyun just smiled, no unfriendly amusement evident on his face.

“Shall we get to the room?”

“Sure, let’s go.”

They left the entrance area to go around the university to reach the room the discussion was held in. On the way they talked a bit about their holidays. Doyoung talked about meeting his friends and Jaehyun went to a family holiday in the beginning of the break. 

The tension and anxiety Doyoung felt in the beginning slowly lessened. When they reached the room there were a few minutes left until the presentation started. 

Doyoung looked at the few people that gathered in the small room. His eyes wandered to a girl in a white dress and a man in a suit. Was Doyoung underdressed? His gaze stopped when it passed a boy, seemingly their age (At least Doyoung’s age. Now that he was thinking about it, he had no idea how old Jaehyun even was.). 

The boy was beautiful. The seat he was sitting in was illuminated by the sun coming in through the window and the whole complexion of the boy was glowing. 

“That boy looks like an angel.” Doyoung whispered in Jaehyun’s direction, without thinking. Was that weird. 

Jaehyun’s gaze shifted from where it was laying on Doyoung to the boy. Doyoung watched in amusement when Jaehyun’s eyes widened and he whispered: “Oh my gosh, you’re right.”

Doyoung couldn’t help to giggle at Jaehyun’s face and Jaehyun joined in. It was a very soft sound and Doyoung was glad to be the one who made him laugh. 

The presentation started soon after and both of their attention was on the presenters immediately.


	7. Pies

The talk was over quickly, the people in the room kept the discussion flowing. Doyoung enjoyed himself. Jaehyun and him remained seated after the talk, going over some of the things they heard that day. 

Doyoung was glad that Jaehyun seemed content staying with him. It made him happy to be able to spend more time with Jaehyun. The anxiety he felt about their meeting subdued a while ago, leaving Doyoung to just enjoy himself. 

A shadow fell upon them. The boy that looked like an angel to them was standing in front of them. 

“Mind if I join you for a while?”

Doyoung looked at Jaehyun briefly, seeing no reluctance in his face. 

“Sure, sit down!”

Talking to that boy was strange. His voice was very soft, but deep. 

“I heard what you where talking about just now and I want to say, that I disagree with that.”

There went the friendly atmosphere, Doyoung’s competitiveness was awakened. 

“Well, what do you suggest then?” his voice was calm, but he grabbed the fabric of his shirt. 

The argument the boy gave was good, but not inarguable. Doyoung found himself enjoying their discussion, Jaehyun only piqued up sometimes to add a small comment. The bite never left Doyoung’s voice during their whole argument. 

They came to an end in their dispute seeing that neither would give in anytime soon. Also, Jaehyun’s stomach grumbled loudly. 

“Thank you for the talk I enjoyed it. My name is Taeyong. I’m studying English in current media and communicative sciences.”

From there Doyoung let Jaehyun do the talking.

“I’m Jaehyun and this is Doyoung. We do English as well, but in linguistics and literary studies.”

“Oh, we might see each other around then.” Doyoung had to admit that the excitement in Taeyoung’s voice was adorable. 

“I should get going. It was a pleasure to meet you!” Taeyong stood up with a wink in Jaehyun’s direction. 

The door closed behind Taeyong and Doyoung and Jaehyun were left alone. Doyoung hadn’t noticed the other people leaving.

“Shall we get going?” Doyoung asked cautiously. If they went home now, would they see each other again? In that moment Jaehyun’s stomach growled loudly. They had to chuckle at that.

“Would you like to go somewhere to get something to eat? I’m starving.” Jaehyun said far to casual considering that Doyoung was freaking out on the inside. Jaehyun wanted to do something with him. In a non-university setting. And he was the one to ask. Doyoung had to smile at that.

“I can hear that. There´s a café near the city hall, they serve great lunch and it´s cosy. And they have an AC.” 

“Alright, lead the way.”

They left for the café still talking about the presentation. When there were seated on one of the six tables in the café and ordered their lunches, Doyoung decided to bring up Taeyong. The boy seemed to be interested in Jaehyun. 

“So, what do you think about Taeyong? He seemed to be interested in you, he even winked at you!”

“He seems nice, but he barely talked to me, he seemed focused on your conversation. Also he might look like an angel, but he`s very fierce too. It’s interesting to think about that. I think we would get along well. You seemed fed up with him though, what was that about?”

“He told me I was wrong so bluntly.” After a short pause he added: “And I might be a bit competitive.”

Jaehyun gave him an amused look.

“Okay, I’m very competitive. I enjoyed talking to Taeyong, his arguments were well presented, and he wasn’t so stubborn. It was pleasant in a way. He’s still an asshole for being so blunt in the beginning.”

Jaehyun laughed at that. Doyoung found himself pleased that he was able to make Jaehyun laugh.

“We might meet him again; you could tell him that then.” Jaehyun suggested.

“I think he might have noticed my distaste.” 

At that both Jaehyun and Doyoung started to laugh. The food arrived shortly after that and distracted them from talking about Taeyong.

Jaehyun seemed to be very pleased with the food. He let out a content sigh. They didn’t talk for a while, just enjoying their meals. Normally Doyoung would try to cover the silence with small talk, start a conversation, just to make it less awkward.

The silence was not uncomfortable at all. They finished soon and talked about the food for a while. Time passed quickly and they were still talking. They finally had a conversation about things outside their university life. 

Doyoung learned that Jaehyun played rugby for years when he was a child, until he settled for handball, because it is a less physical sport. Doyoung talked about his friends and all the stupid things they did (and still do). 

After a while of talking they ordered some drinks and eyed the selection of cakes in the glass display next to the counter. 

“Would you like to share a piece of cake? They look amazing, but I’m still filled from lunch.”

The Moment Jaehyun made that offer, Doyoung finally thought that they could really be friends. It worked so well with them. He wasn’t nervous about having conversations with Jaehyun and he enjoyed every minute they spend together. Jaehyun also seemed to be comfortable around him. Or was he not?

“Alright, which one do you want to try?”

Jaehyun looked very focused when he was trying to choose a cake. Doyoung had to chuckle at how serious Jaehyun looked.

“They heat up the pies by the way.” Doyoung advised after he eventually started to really laugh at Jaehyun’s widened eyes. It was cute.

“Apple pie then?” Jaehyun looked at Doyoung expectantly. “Or rhubarb?” He added after a short while, his gaze going back at the collection of cakes in the glass display.

“Let’s get rhubarb, it’s in season at the moment. You can get apple pie all year long.” Doyoung said with a smile. He didn’t think Jaehyun had a cute side to him. He always seemed so cool and collected around people. It wasn’t a fake cuteness some people exhibited in front of their crushes either. After all, there was no one Jaehyun would want to impress with them.

They ordered the pie with two spoons, which made Doyoung strangely proud. It was a very cosy action making Doyoung more confident in calling Jaehyun a friend, even if he only did that in his head. 

“What are your plans for the rest of the holidays? Any travels?” Jaehyun asked.

“Nothing special to be honest. I tried to plan a trip with my friends, but they seem to be busy these days. I’m going to work a lot probably. And maybe I can convince somebody to at least go on daytrips with me, how about you? I know you just got back from a trip with your family, but you seem to be the type to spend the entire holidays somewhere else. I am surprised you’re even here with me right now.”

Jaehyun laughed at that.

“You’re right, I would love to do that. But I’m a student so it can’t be helped, I have to stay here. I was lucky that I was able to go with my family this year. Most of my friends don’t live around here so they always leave for their homes in the holidays, leaving me on my own. Daytrips sound lovely though.”

“We could go together.” Doyoung talked without thinking. Did that weird out Jaehyun? Was that what he wanted to hear? He felt his cheeks heat up. Has he just put pressure on Jaehyun to go to trips with him?

Doyoung was just about to start rambling, when Jaehyun spoke up.

“That would be great. Are there any cities you want to see?”

Doyoung was relieved again, the pressure he felt lifted instantly. Jaehyun looked thrilled at the prospect of having someone to spend time with in the holidays. Or he was just very into daytrips. That Moment the waitress comes up to their table. She set the pie down and sent a quick wink to Jaehyun. 

Jaehyun just smiled at her politely. Doyoung decided not to comment. It might make Jaehyun uncomfortable. 

They continued to talk until at least two drinks later. 

“It’s getting late. I should get going. I enjoyed today. The café is amazing, we should come here again.”

Doyoung was glad Jaehyun liked the café. He stayed quiet for a moment, relishing the fact that Jaehyun wanted to come to one w of his favourite places with him again. He belatedly realized that he should respond to what Jaehyun had said. 

“I would love that. We can see when it suits both of us. Then we could maybe plan a daytrip.” 

They got up, paid (Doyoung was very pleased to see Jaehyun gave a generous tip to the waitress) and left the café. R

“See you then, enjoy the rest of your evening. Goodbye.”

“You too. Bye.” Jaehyun left of in the direction of the streetcars with a wave. Doyoung gave a short wave as well and stood in front of the café while watching Jaehyun go away. He then realized that he had to go into the same direction as the one Jaehyun went just then.

Maybe a walk trough the city would clear his head. With that thought in mind he started walking.


	8. Depature

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The city has no name, because I am not sure if I want the story to take place in a certain country or area or not. But the city I have in mind is German (as well as the University). You can do what you want with that information, enjoy~

They did not talk for a few days. Not until Jaehyun asked Doyoung if he wanted to go to a city nearby. It was not a tourist city or anything too exciting. Doyoung felt tingles of excitement in his stomach anyway. 

In the past few days he worried about their lack of communication, but he also did not want to put pressure on Jaehyun or annoy him with his messages.

Despite what people might think, Doyoung was a double texter when it came to messaging his friends. But when it came to strangers, he wasn’t that confident. He lost contact with a lot of people before, because he was not able to keep up the conversation. He knew the rules of small talk and texting, but applying them was an entirely different thing. 

Reaction, comment, question. 

It was easy enough in Theory. But what if the message was boring or to final to make a comment? 

If the other person would not start a different conversation, Doyoung would often leave it at that., ending the contact by not replying. He feels bad for it often enough, but on the other hand he did not have the feeling that the other people even wanted to keep in contact with him and in most cases he did not mind at all.

He looked at the message Jaehyun had sent him. It was simple enough, containing enough information to know what it was about, but not too much for Doyoung to not be able to reply and ask questions.

Jaehyun: Hey, would you like to go to ______ with me this Wednesday? I just realized I’ve never been there even though it is literally less than an hour away. 

You: That sounds great, any plans on what to do there? 

Jaehyun: I heard part of their university is in a palace? Oh, and the old part of the city is supposed to be good as well! 

You: Sounds like a start, when should we leave? 

Jaehyun: I suppose we’ll take the train, where do you live? We could meet up.

The next few messages left Doyoung in a weird state of mind. It turns out that Jaehyun lived in the same town as him. They took the same train every day, just to different times apparently, since Doyoung had never seen Jaehyun on the train before. 

The proximity of their homes gave Doyoung’s mind a lot of new material to picture their friendship. They could meet at the local ice-cream parlour, they could take a walk in the park, they could do picnics in one of the fields. There are a lot of possibilities for things they could do together. But first they will go on a trip.

They agreed to leave at 09:08 o’clock on that Wednesday.

Doyoung felt the strange need to tell his friend about the trip.

You: Guess who’s going on a daytrip on Wednesday? Friendship ended with y’all, Jaehyun is now my best friend 

Haechan: You’re already going out on dates? Thaat was fast, was happened to you Doyoung?

Haechan: When are you gonna introduce us?

You: Oh shut up Im very keen on keeping this friend, so youre not meeting him anytime soon

Johnny: Pleasss, we are dying of curiosity here

You: Then perish

Jaehyun meeting his friends could end up in two ways. Either they get along well or it is going to be so awkward that Jaehyun does not want to see Doyoung or any of his friends ever again. Doyoung was not keen on finding out soon.

~

On Wednesday the weather decided it was Time for a break from the constant hot Summer days. It didn’t rain, but clouds were blocking out the sun anyways. Doyoung contemplated if it was warm enough for shorts and a T-shirt. 

He already packed his bag the evening before, making sure he was prepared for all eventualities. 

He packed Sunscreen and an umbrella, he had tissues with him as well as snacks, carefully selected so there are no allergens in them. In case Jaehyun was allergic and Doyoung didn’t know.

He felt prepared, even though his mind did not feel ready. He would spend the entire day together with Jaehyun. Many things could go wrong, they could part ways after the day was over, reaching a mutual understanding to never see each other again. 

Spending a whole day together was a big step in a friendship. You learn things you haven’t known before and you might not like those. You have to trust the person enough to be sure that you won’t fall out with them in a day. Doyoung was sure Jaehyun would do nothing to disappoint him, but he did not trust himself. He knows that he can be a handful and even though Jaehyun was very patient with him until then, he could still have enough after a whole day with Doyoung. 

At least they didn't meet at one of their homes. Doyoung was not ready for something so intimate yet. 

Doyoung left the house early. He needed to take the bike and he did not want to be drenched in sweat when he met Jaehyun. He checked once again, if he packed all the things he might need for the day. He arrived at the station without trouble, the morning air was still cool on his skin, which he was very thankful for. 

At the station he thought about where to wait for Jaehyun to find him. They agreed to meet at the station in the town that Doyoung usually didn’t use. Jaehyun lived closer to said station and it made no difference to Doyoung which station he used. He decided to wait near the stairs where he sat down on one of the seats. 

It turned out that He did not have to wait long. He closed his eyes for a moment to mentally prepare for when Jaehyun would arrive. It was still fifteen minutes till the train leaves. He felt someone sitting down next to him. When he opened his eyes to look at the person, he was faced with Jaehyun’s smiling face right in front of him. His dimples were showing. Doyoung almost yelped in shock but was able to supress it.

“Hey there. You are very early. I hope you didn’t have to wait alone for too long.” 

“I just sat down a minute ago. I didn’t expect you to be here so soon, you startled me.” 

Jaehyun laughed softly.

“Sorry about that. You looked so peaceful, so I didn’t want to disturb you. How are you feeling? Ready to walk a lot?”

“It’s alright. I’m very excited. I didn’t do anything for too long, it’s time for me to get out of the house. It is still very early though, how are you so awake?”

“You’re right, it feels great to go out. Think I have watched every series on Netflix by now. For the being awake thing; Green Tea. It does wonders.”

“Green tea? Isn’t that kinda disgusting?”

Jaehyun let out a snort. Somehow, he managed to do that elegantly. Doyoung was fascinated.

“It is, but there’s green tea mixed with other things. I always drink green tea with mango. Oh, and you should not forget your teabag in the cup or let it sit for too long. It gets bitter.” Jaehyun made a face at that. Now it was Doyoung’s turn to be amused.

They only stopped talking about breakfast (They agreed that brunch was the best kind of breakfast) when the train came to a halt in front of them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> They are finally going somewhere, let me know what you think~ I hope you enjoyed this chapter!


	9. Walking

The train ride was over fast, they joked about things they saw outside the train the whole way. Doyoung feared that there would be awkward silence when they spend so much time on the train. But there was none of that. After they left the train Doyoung looked at Jaehyun expectantly. 

“Where should we go first?” Jaehyun asked. 

“Maybe the university?”

“Sounds good, let’s go.” With that Jaehyun started walking in one direction with confidence.

“Do you know where we have to go?”

“Nope.” 

“We should look it up then, so we won’t walk into the wrong direction.” Doyoung said, his phone already in his hand. Normally he would prefer having a map of the city, but he doubted that they even made those for that city. 

He just started typing, when Jaehyun touched his arm softly to stop him.

“Where would be the fun in that?” He said with a wink. He then proceeded walking leaving Doyoung dazed. That almost sounded like flirting. Jaehyun must think they are very good friends already.

When he realized that he was still standing on the sidewalk, Jaehyun was already further down the street and Doyoung had to jog to catch up with him.

“Oh, there you are, I started to wonder if I lost you.”

“Don’t worry, you won’t get rid of me that easily.” Jaehyun smiled and they continued walking in silence for a while. They came across a lot of churches, which they entered to look at the decorations. Neither of them was really religious, but they appreciated the buildings. After they walked through a narrow footpath next to a cemetery, it became evident, that they went into the wrong direction. Doyoung wanted to be mad at Jaehyun, for leading them into the wrong direction and not planning where to go first. But when he saw the content smile on Jaehyun’s face and the barely noticeable spring in his steps he couldn't do it. It wasn’t that bad after all. The air was cool enough that they wouldn’t sweat that much and the area looked friendly. 

“Oh, we have to go there!” Jaehyun suddenly declared and he ran of to somewhere. Doyoung followed him slowly. When he arrived at a playground, he saw Jaehyun already pulling a seat for a zip line to the starting point.

“Are you serious right now? Aren’t you a bit too old for that?” 

“You are never to old to have some fun. You should have a turn too.” Doyoung snorted at first until he saw that Jaehyun was serious.

“I mean it was fun when I was young.” Jaehyun smiled at that.

“See. I will go first, then it is your turn.”

Doyoung watched Jaehyun going on the zip line and wondered how Jaehyun, the cool and collected guy he met, could be this childish. Somehow he still had a lot of dignity while he was being extremely childish. He enjoyed himself, he did not seem to care what others think of him in order to have fun. 

Doyoung respected that.

He jerked when Jaehyun appeared in front of him.

“Your turn!” And so Doyoung went on the zip line. Even though he didn’t go on one for years, he still remembered the countless times he went as a child, always having to take turns with his brother. Sometimes they would go on a zipline together. Their legs always hurt after that, but they never cared, because they had fun. 

Doyoung chuckled when he reached the end and relished the air brushing through his hair. When he came to a halt, he saw Jaehyun smiling at him and he couldn’t help but grin at him.

“Let’s go up there, maybe we can see where we have to go from there.” Jaehyun pointed at a jungle gym. They wordlessly made their way up there. 

“Well, I can see Trees from here.” Commented Doyoung, when they were seated at the top. They couldn’t look beyond the line of trees surrounding the playground. Doyoung wasn’t sure how they would find back if they didn’t use their phones or ask someone for directions. Asking for directions would be hard, because no one seemed to be around the part of the city they were in. He was scared to ask Jaehyun as the younger one insisted on not using their phones. 

They continued to sit on the jungle gym and to look at the trees moving slightly. It was a very peaceful and romantic scenery, but Doyoung felt tense. Did Jaehyun feel it too or was it just his imagination? 

Their silence continued. Was Doyoung supposed to say something, was he expected to do something? 

Eventually Jaehyun spoke.

“You know, I always wanted to do something so spontaneous. And I really enjoy it. I haven’t been on a zip line in ages. And even if we aren’t high enough to see where we have to go, I still feel tall. We’re as tall as the trees now.” Luckily Jaehyun sounded relaxed and not at all worried or down.

“Aren’t you disappointed, that we are missing out on the city? We haven’t even seen the University yet.”

“I enjoy the time with you, it does not matter where we are. Besides, we can always come back here. The ride is very short.”

“You sound very cheesy you know. It’s borderline cringey.” Jaehyun just laughed at the comment. 

“Shall we get going? Maybe we manage to reach the university today then.” Doyoung nodded in agreement and they made their way down the jungle gym. 

The path they chose finally led them to a bigger street, which even had a small shop on it. Jaehyun noticed a bus stop not far from them.

“We can look at the map there and see in which direction we have to go.”

“That is very clever. I wouldn’t have thought about that.” Doyoung was fascinated by Jaehyun again. He himself only ever relied on either his phone or a printed map to navigate in foreign places. But using the maps of the public transport like that never occurred to him. 

Soon they were headed in the direction of the train station again, to continue their walk into the right direction from there. Doyoung’s spirit was lifted in the prospect of an actual plan. 

With the help of signs and the bus maps, they finally reached the university. The former palace was painted in a soft yellow, which matched the colour of the flowers growing in the gardens in front of the palace. 

“We actually made it.” They high fived and then made their way to the yard of the university. Soft piano music was coming from one of the open windows facing the yard.

(“Why can’t our university look so nice? All we get is concrete and steel.”)

After they left, they found an actual map of the city, leading them to the old part of the town. There they found themselves in front of an old church whose exterior was covered in scaffolds. A sign on one of them identified the church as an Art museum. 

Doyoung looked at Jaehyun, unsure what Jaehyun thought of art. Doyoung himself appreciated galleries, especially with newer ideas. But he didn’t know if Jaehyun wanted to go in or if he was even interested in art the slightest. 

Doyoung then decided on a neutral approach, which left Jaehyun to choose if he wanted to go in, without Doyoung revealing his interest in art.

“Since we’re already here, shall we go in? As far as I’m concerned, we don’t have a plan anyways.” He hoped he didn’t sound rude or pissed about them having no plan. He only thought about how his statement sounded after he already said it. Jaehyun will think he’s rude and vindicate.

“Sure, why not. I’ve never been to an art gallery before though. I have no idea how to behave.” 

They went in and Doyoung was surprised to see that there were scaffolds and ladders on the inside of the church as well. Their confusion subdued after they bought their tickets and the lady at the counter explained that the scaffolds and ladders where part of the exhibition. When they came closer to one of the scaffolds, they noticed mirrors everywhere, reflecting the impressive decoration of the church. Another thing they saw was a bubble machine. In that moment the machine started, releasing bubbles into the air, which proceeded to float trough the church. Most of the bubbles landed where Jaehyun and Doyoung where standing. Doyoung was interrupted in watching the bubbles by Jaehyun asking him a favour.

“Hey, could you please take a picture on me with these bubbles?”

Finally, a task Doyoung could manage. He was confident in his skills in taking photos. Jaehyun also seemed very experienced in posing for them. The pictures turned out beautiful and both Jaehyun and Doyoung were pleased with them. 

They continued their walk through the exhibition. They were in a playful mood now due to the pictures, making fun of some installments that they did not understand. They even had one of the guards explain them what some of the artwork was supposed to say.

Besides them only the workers of the museum were in the exibition. Despite the workers hearing everything they said, Doyoung did not hold back. He said what came to his mind when he noticed something, without lowering his voice. He was genuinely enjoying himself and he was fully comfortable around Jaehyun. When they saw all the rooms of the exhibition, they stepped out onto the street. Without talking they went into the same direction.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, somebody is getting bolder~  
> I hope you enjoyed the chapter, feel free to leave a comment!


	10. Rain

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is more of a filler chapter than anything else, but the next chapter will have more plot I promise!  
> Also I apologize how long this took. I hope you still enjoy this chapter~

Their trip advanced without any troubles. They went around the city exploring everything they thought was interesting. They had a light lunch and Doyoung shared his snacks with Jaehyun. The evening neared and the air got noticeably colder. The weather forecast didn’t show rain, but Doyoung suspected it was going to start raining soon.

“Should we find somewhere to have dinner? I think it is going to rain soon.” 

After they walked past a few restaurants, rain started to fall.

“Come on let’s get inside.” With those words Jaehyun took Doyoung’s hand and led him to the nearest restaurant. 

They were seated near the window in a corner of the small restaurant. It was very cosy, the chairs were made with dark wood and cushioned with red velvet. The cream coloured walls build a contrast to the furniture, giving a lighter atmosphere. 

“I hope this isn’t expensive, I am a broke student after all.” Doyoung said, his tone gentle.

“Then I will treat you. It’s my fault we are in here after all.”

“You talk like you’re not a broke student. “

“I only spend money on important things.”

“Oh, so like” Doyoung glanced at the menu “traditional Irish Cuisine?”

“For example.” Jaehyun said with a wink. Then he started giggling when he took a glance at the menu as well. 

“I hope you like pudding and gross sausages then.”  
Doyoung just snorted, less elegantly than Jaehyun would have, but it was okay. He enjoyed himself. 

Doyoung decided to have stew while Jaehyun had a shepherd’s pie. Those were the least suspicious options they were able to find. Unfortunately, the prices were very high for struggling students and Doyoung made a mental note to make sure to pay for his own food. 

When the waitress took their order she looked at Jaehyun and then at Doyoung, a sad smile forming on her face. Doyoung didn’t know what to do with that observation and he soon forgot about it. 

“Well, this is more expensive than anticipated. I will pay for you.” Jaehyun looked at Doyoung apologetic. Doyoung decided it was not a good look on Jaehyun.

“You really don’t have too. I’m sure the food is worth it. But I will choose where to go next time.” That brought the smile back to Jaehyun’s face. At that moment Doyoung realized that he said ‘next time’, a very self-assured thing to say. 

Maybe Jaehyun did not like that. He must think Doyoung is arrogant now.

Doyoung’s thoughts were stopped at an instant when he remembered that Jaehyun smiled at his words. Doyoung let out a breath he did not know he was holding until then.

They talked until their food arrived. The waitress set down their dishes and two drinks. She then looked at Jaehyun. 

“The drinks are on the house.” Then she winked. Doyoung was fascinated with how bold the girl was. On the contrary, Jaehyun did not even seem to have noticed. He just thanked the waitress for the food and turned back to Doyoung. 

“Well it looks nice and we got free drinks, this isn’t too bad so far.” Jaehyun commented. 

“We only got those drinks because the waitress likes you, you know?”

“I’m sure they do that all the time.” Even though Doyoung was not convinced, he let it rest. After he shot Jaehyun one last sceptical glance, he dug into his food. It was better than he expected, and his mood was lifted the more he ate. 

Only after he ate a few bites he noticed that Jaehyun was not eating but looked at him instead.

“You should try the food, it’s really good.” Doyoung was suddenly unsure if Jaehyun was alright. He looked weirdly serious.

“Oh is it? I’m glad to hear you like my choice, that I made totally conscious.”

The weird feeling Doyoung had felt before disappeared in an instant.

“You made a great choice considering we could’ve ended up in a shady diner where they probably have illegal business going on in the back and everyone gets food poisoning from their chicken.”

“What do you mean? Is that not the most romantic place you can imagine? The lights are probably not working, so you get a cheap electric candle to cast a soft light onto your table. You hear the noises of the open kitchen, were they discuss whether to use the fat whose due date was five years ago or not. And later when you get home, you get to spend some days together when you fight off the poisoning of the fried chicken you had.”

“If that is your idea of romance, then I hope you don’t have a girlfriend. That is literally disgusting.” Despite his words he was laughing. Jaehyun made it sound like he means it, as if going to a gross diner and getting food poisoning together really were romantic.

“I believe it can be enjoyable to go anywhere if you are with the right person.” 

“That was cheesy again.” Doyoung couldn’t help but cringe at Jaehyun’s words. They were meant to be very sweet, but Doyoung could not stand cheesiness very well.

Jaehyun just laughed at that and finally tried his food.

“God, this is good.” Jaehyun let out a soft hum and Doyoung caught himself staring. Just to see Jaehyun enjoying himself was making him happy, he realized. And he was not sure if he liked that. 

They finished their meal in comfortable silence. After they paid (separate just like Doyoung insisted on) and left, Doyoung saw the gaze of their waitress following Jaehyun. Once they were outside, they noticed that it was still raining. Doyoung took the umbrella he brought and opened it to hold it above them.

“You had an umbrella with you all this time? And I panicked and made us eat expensive food. Why didn’t you say something?”

Even though Jaehyun sounded offended, he still giggled. Doyoung couldn’t help but grin at that.

“You seem to be keen on spontaneous things and I guessed it would be fun to follow you. Also, I forgot that I had it with me.”

Jaehyun laughed at his words.

“Let’s head back to the station shall we? It’s getting late.”

Even though Doyoung would like to spend more time with Jaehyun, he knew that it was reasonable to go home by now.

“Alright, lead the way.”

He looked at Jaehyun expecting him to lead them back to the train station. But Jaehyun only looked confused.

“I don’t know the way.”

At that Doyoung could not help but laugh. He bend over, the umbrella no longer protecting them from the rain. He managed to stop his laughter eventually only to break out into giggles when he saw Jaehyun looking like a kicked puppy in the rain.

“What’s so funny?” Jaehyun asked.

“I don’t know where to go either. And you look funny.” At that Jaehyun pouted. It was cute. 

“Shall we ask the mighty google maps where to go, or are you up for more Adventure?”

“I think I’m good for today. Especially because someone,” Jaehyun glared at Doyoung, “decided to let me be soaked.” His words were playful and Doyoung was relieved that he didn’t upset Jaehyun too much. Doyoung handed the umbrella to Jaehyun and opened google maps for navigation. While he typed Jaehyun took a step back to leave Doyoung in the rain, making them both giggle. 

They made their way to the train station without getting lost again. They were lucky to reach the station just in time to catch a train home. 

After a while of not talking Doyoung turned to Jaehyun only to realize the boy had fallen asleep. Doyoung watched carefully when Jaehyun’s head fell forward. Jaehyun would get neck cramps if he slept like that so Doyoung tried to direct Jaehyun’s head to a more comfortable position without waking him up. They ended up with Jaehyun’s head on Doyoung’s shoulder and Doyoung looking out of the window to hide how flustered he was. 

Sure, he was friends with Jaehyun, but he felt that they weren’t close enough for Jaehyun to fall asleep on him. It took Doyoung a while to realize that he didn’t mind being that close to Jaehyun at all. He finally relaxed. He pushed his thoughts about Jaehyun’s possible reactions to their position aside for the moment to just enjoy the closeness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feel free to leave a comment if you like to~


	11. Take a seat

They parted ways at the train station. Jaehyun gave Doyoung a short wave and a smile to say goodbye. 

After that Doyoung stood next to his bike, needing to process what happened that day. He concluded that he liked Jaehyun a lot and that he wanted to put effort into keeping their friendship.

Over the course of the holidays Jaehyun and Doyoung met few times. They did two more trips and met in multiple cafés. Near the end of the holidays Doyoung grew more worried. Their friends will be back, and they will have to do work for university all the time. No time for new friends. Doyoung tried to push these thoughts aside as long as he was able to. 

Three days before the semester started Doyoung was staring at his schedule he put together months ago. He already checked with his friends which courses they had together. With all of his friends. Except Jaehyun. 

You: Hey, should we compare schedules for next semester? Maybe we have classes together.  
Doyoung deleted the message even before finishing it. 

~

Three days later found himself seated next to Jaehyun on the train. The air around them felt different than how it felt in the holidays. More tense, more awkward. The whole duration of the ride Doyoung tried to figure out why and if he did something wrong.

They arrived at the university without talking much, Doyoung was anxious to say something wrong which would upset Jaehyun. 

“Where do you have to go now?” Jaehyun asked, stopping Doyoung’s thoughts for a moment.

“C1-213, and you?” 

“C2, we can walk there together.” It was awkward, seeing Jaehyun so stuck up.

“Alright.”

They made their way up the stairs in silence and waved each other goodbye when the arrived at Doyoung’s floor.

“See you around.”

“Yeah, see you.” 

Doyoung was not able to shake off the feeling that something was very wrong, he just couldn’t figure out what it was. 

After that his week went by without and troubles and he enjoyed his classes, most of them he shared with his friends. He did not see Jaehyun again and they didn’t text either. That was until thursday. 

Doyoung arrived at the classroom early like he usually did. He saw no one he knew, so he sat don in the middle of the classroom, looking at his phone to keep himself occupied. He didn’t feel like socializing. The door opened at some point, revealing Jaehyun. He was in a noticeably better mood than the last time Doyoung had seen him. He even smiled at Doyoung. 

“Hey stranger, mind if I sit here?” Jaehyun’s usual cheery self-seemed to be back and it made Doyoung smile too.

“My mum told me not to talk to strangers.” Jaehyun laughed at Doyoung’s fake innocent face.

“Alright, then I will sit here.” With that Doyoung started to giggle, while watching Jaehyun sat down, leaving a chair space between them. 

At that moment another person entered the room, getting the attention of a lot of people in the room. Doyoung himself looked at the person with suspicion. It was Taeyong, who looked delighted to spot him and Jaehyun. Although Doyoung suspected he was only glad to see Jaehyun. 

Taeyong made his way over to them with confident steps. The eyes of most of the people in the room following him.

“Hey, are you saving that seat for anyone?” He asked while pointing at the chair between Doyoung and Jaehyun. Before Doyoung could think about it he already spoke. 

“No, you can sit there.” Curse his politeness. 

He looked at Jaehyun apologetic, but the latter just shrugged and send him a smug grin.

“That’s what you get for not letting me sit next to you” He said while Taeyong made his way around the tables to take his seat between Doyoung and Jaehyun. 

Doyoung groaned at that regretting every decision he made after entering that classroom. 

“How have our holidays been?” Taeyong asked after he sat down, only looking at Jaehyun. 

“They were nice, I went to a few daytrips with Doie over there.” Jaehyun answered, his tone light. 

Doyoung raised an eyebrow at that. Only Ten and Johnny had a nickname for him and that one was definitely less…cute. Cute did not suit Doyoung. 

“Oh, is that so? Sounds lovely. I went to a cooking class.”

Doyoung tuned out of the conversation at that point. He did not care what recipes Taeyong learned in his summer course. He still noticed how Jaehyun seemed to enjoy the conversation. It bothered Doyoung, because he was happy to see Jaehyun again, especially because he was in a better mood that day. 

After the class ended, Taeyong tried to engage Jaehyun into another conversation. Doyoung decided to leave those two alone and made his way out of the classroom, trying to keep his steps slow and dignified. The urge to run was strong. When he hit his shoulder on his way through the door he felt like crying, even if there was no reason. Jaehyun was allowed to talk to whomever he wanted to. 

Even if that person was stupidly good looking, irritating and annoying Taeyong. Doyoung made his way to the nearest toilet and sat down in one of the cubicles to sort out the mess in his head.

Next week he will sit next to Jaehyun and he will be able to talk to him without having to face Taeyong’s cold shoulder. After the argument Taeyong and Doyoung had, Doyoung had hoped to never see Taeyong again. Not because Doyoung didn’t like him, but because Taeyong didn’t seem to like Doyoung either.

As many times Doyoung tried to tell himself that he didn’t care what other people think about him, he still cared. 

Taeyong managed to take Jaehyun’s attention away from Doyoung. Of course, he managed to do that. Taeyong was gorgeous, outspoken and confident. He also seemed to share a lot of interests with Jaehyun. They were perfect for each other. They looked like they belong together. The epitome of the popular kids, good-looking, smart and dignified. 

And he was just Doyoung. Taeyong probably thought he was aggressive and stubborn from what he was able to see from Doyoung at the discussion. 

It took Doyoung a while to calm down and come to terms with the new situation. If he was lucky, he was overreacting and Jaehyun would split his attention between Taeyong and him and Jaehyun would not forget about him. If not, it would definetly hurt.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed the chapter, let me know what you think!


	12. Lunch time

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I changed Haechan's name to Donghyuck, I will also change it in the rest of the story when I find the time. I just thought it was more fitting.

“I survived another week of US-history!” was the first thing Donghyuck said when he reached the table Doyoung, Mark and Johnny were already sitting at. Nobody paid him any attention. 

“Good to know people care about me.” Donghyuck was pouting while he sat down on the bench beside Mark. 

“Hey Donkey, good to see you alive and well.” Mark eventually said, his voice showing that he was elsewhere with his thoughts.

With that Doyoung’s and Johnny’s interest was piqued. 

“Donkey? That’s a new one. What did he do to deserve that title?” Johnny asked an evil smirk on his face.

“It’s a mix of Donghyuck and monkey. He climbed a tree last week and he’s loud and annoying.”  
Doyoung and Johnny shared a look with each other, after they noticed the blush on Marks face. 

Before any of them could say anything, Donghyuck let out a high-pitched whine. 

“That’s what you think of me Markie?”

With that Donghyuck and Mark started their usual bickering and Johnny looked back at his phone. Doyoung laughed when he noticed the boys started to hold hands under the table. He leaned over to whisper in Johnny’s ear:

“Do you think they know we can see them holding hands?” Johnny looked up from his phone again.

“Oh my god, this is gold.” Johnny already opened the camera on his phone to take a picture. Donghyuck seemed to have a different idea however and he stopped his argument with Mark to try to snatch the phone out of Johnny’s hand. All the while he did not let go of Marks hand, resulting in Mark’s and Donghyuck’s intertwined hands leaving their place under the table for everyone to see. 

While Donghyuck had started to fight with Johnny over the table, Doyoung decided to watch Mark’s face get redder and redder. At some point Mark pulled his hand away, looking mortified at the situation. That was the moment Doyoung started to laugh. Donghyuck and Johnny wrestling with the table between them just made Doyoung laugh harder. After Johnny managed to fight Donghyuck off, they all calmed down. Doyoung noticed that Mark was looking at his hands in his lap and that his cheeks were still dusted with red. 

“So, what’s going on with you two?” Doyoung decided to ask eventually.  
While Mark just blushed deeper, Donghyuck looked offended. 

“What should be going on? Do you have a problem?” Doyoung wondered if the pink on Donghyuck’s cheeks were caused by his anger or by something else. For the moment he decided to just let the issue rest, to not cause a fight with his friend. Johnny seemed to want to pry a bit more, but Doyoung nudged his shoulder to stop him.

“So, did any of you do the homework for Linguistics?” A groan can be heard and Doyoung was pleased that he was able to distract his friends from an uncomfortable situation.  
Lunch went by quickly after that. Doyoung felt like they were too loud for being in public, but he couldn’t care less when he was having fun with his friends. 

When they were ready to leave Doyoung spotted a familiar face at the other side of the cafeteria. Jaehyun. A smile formed on both of their faces. That was until the person beside Jaehyun turned around and placed a hand on Jaehyun’s arm, while saying something. It was Taeyong. Anger and sadness filled Doyoung. Before he could see more of their interaction or Jaehyun’s reaction to Taeyong’s words, he turned away. He was in no place to react like that.

Jaehyun was allowed to be friends with Taeyong. Doyoung also had other friends. There was no obligation for Jaehyun to only spend time with Doyoung. Still, Doyoung was afraid. Afraid to have lost Jaehyun to Taeyong. Afraid that Jaehyun will realize that Doyoung isn’t worth being his friend. 

So naturally Doyoung did what he did best. Ignoring his feelings and carrying on. 

“Guys, let’s go.”

“Someone is eager to get to class.” Even though Johnny’s comment was playful, Doyoung could see the confusion his face. There must’ve been something in his tone that betrayed his feelings. Curse his friend for knowing him so well. 

“I actually like to be on time, unlike a certain mister Suh over here. Get moving now.” On his way out of the cafeteria, Doyoung looked back to where he saw Jaehyun earlier. When he spotted the boy Jaehyun was already looking at him. Doyoung just turned around and left the cafeteria. 

~

Thursday came and Doyoung found himself seated in the room of his seminar, anxiously awaiting Jaehyun’s entrance. His goal was to not let Taeyong sit next to Jaehyun, so Taeyong wouldn't be able to keep Jaehyun from talking to him. He was currently saving two seats next to him, one on each side. One for Jaehyun and one for Taeyong. Even if Doyoung didn’t like Taeyong, he wasn’t going to be an asshole to him. Jaehyun seemed to really enjoy Taeyong’s company and Doyoung himself had no real reason to not like Taeyong, except for the weird feeling he got whenever he saw him talking to Jaehyun. 

To Doyoung’s dismay, the door opened at that moment, revealing both Jaehyun and Taeyong, engaged in conversation. Doyoung planned this moment in his head beforehand. He planned to sit in the middle, to guarantee that Jaehyun sat next to him, without Taeyong being able to interfere. He even planned to say that it was easier to save seats by sitting in the middle in case they asked why he sat in the middle (Unlikely, but Doyoung liked to be prepared for every possibility his brain could come up with). He smiled at the two men and gathered his things to make space. 

And then he moved. He moved one seat to his right so Taeyong and Jaehyun could keep talking to each other after they sat down. The both of them smiled at Doyoung and thanked him for saving seats. Doyoung was surprised to see Taeyong taking the seat further away from him. He was convinced that he knew Taeyong’s intentions, to be friends with Jaehyun and having Doyoung out of the picture. But his behaviour seemed to suggest something different. Maybe Doyoung was wrong. He was probably just overreacting again. It was still a mystery to him, why he cared so much about Taeyong and Jaehyun being friends. His thoughts were interrupted by Jaehyun calling his name. 

“Yes?”

“We were talking about a difficult part in the reading for today, would you like to help us out?”

Both Jaehyun and Taeyong were looking at him expectantly. Jaehyun with a gaze of serious curiosity and Taeyong with a hint of mischief in his eyes (at least that’s what Doyoung’s brain told him).

“Sure, which part are you talking about.”

Their conversation went by more pleasant than Doyoung had though at first. Taeyong appeared to be very open and curious about how Doyoung understood the passages of the text and didn’t oppose Doyoung’s opinions like the first time they met. Jaehyun stayed silent for most of the time but added to the conversation when he could. Doyoung’s fear of being left out proved to be very wrong and he eased out, feeling a bit of the tension he felt before disappear slowly. 

“I have a break now are you two free as well? We could go grab lunch together if you want to.”  
Taeyong asked after the class ended. 

“Sure I’m free, would you mind sitting with my friends?” Doyoung regretted his words immediately after he said them. Spending a class with Taeyong was one thing, but eating lunch together was another thing. 

“Sounds cool I’m in.” Jaehyun added. 

“Alright, let’s go then.” With that Taeyong took his bag and left for the cafeteria, Jaehyun and Doyoung following behind. Doyoung could just go with them and hope the day  
wouldn’t end in tragedy.

~

To his surprise everything went just fine. When they arrived at the seating area of the cafeteria with their food, Mark and Donghyuck already sat at a table talking to each other.

“Hey guys, this is Taeyong and Jaehyun, we have a class together.” Doyoung introduced the two men. 

“Hello, nice to meet you. I’m Mark.” Mark said, nodding in their direction, his tone polite. 

“Hey, I’m Donghyuck. Weren’t you in one of our seminars two semesters ago?” Donghyuck asked Jaehyun. Doyoung knew that Donghyuck was amazing at learning names and faces, but he himself surely would’ve noticed if Jaehyun was in one of his seminars before, so he didn’t expect Jaehyun’s answer.”

“Yes, that’s me, nice to meet you.”

So Donghyuck knew Jaehyun. That was good right, they would’ve something to talk about then. Jaehyun sat down opposite of Donghyuck and Doyoung sat down next to him, leaving Taeyong to sit in front of Mark. Shortly after they settled in their seats, Johnny joined their table. 

“Oh, new faces. I’m Johnny. What brings us to our beautiful table?” Doyoung was relieved when he saw no disgust in Taeyong’s and (especially) Jaehyun’s face at Johnny’s words. 

“We’re friends of Doyoung.” Taeyong answered before Doyoung can say anything. Friends was not what Doyoung considered them to be, especially since Doyoung acted rude to Taeyong since they first met. Johnny, Mark and Haechan appeared to be just as confused as Doyoung felt. They probably already connected the dots and found out that Jaehyun was the guy he talked about before, but he never mentioned a Taeyong before, at least not someone he was friends with. 

“Alright then, how do you know Doyoungie over here?” Johnny was now seated in front of Doyoung.

“We met at an open discussion in August and now we share a class here.” The explanation was simple and Taeyong left out the detail that Doyoung behaved like a dick when they first met. He was thankful for that, because he knew his friends would make fun of it later. Everyone was looking at Jaehyun now, curious at his version on how he met Doyoung. 

“I shared a class with Doyoung and we met up a few times during the holidays.” 

The awkward silence that followed was broken after Marks phone rang, playing a song Taeyong enjoyed. He started to talk about music with Mark after he declined the call. Donghyuck joined the conversation, only to disagree with both Mark and Taeyong. Johnny leaned over the table to whisper in Doyoung’s ear.

“You never told me you had such an attractive friend. That dude looks like an angel.” Doyoung snorted at the memory of his and Jaehyun’s first meeting with Taeyong. Jaehyun seemed to have heard Johnny’s words and also started snickering.

“Believe me he isn’t.” Doyoung said while rolling his eyes at Johnny, making both Johnny and Jaehyun laugh. Shortly after, Donhyuck managed to pull everyone at the table in the conversation he was having with Mark and Taeyong. Doyoung was really happy to see Jaehyun getting along with his friends. He was not sure what to think about Taeyong fitting in so nicely. But this was probably the only time they were having lunch together. 

“Same time next week?” Johnny asked Jaehyun and Taeyong before they had to leave for their classes.

“Sure.”

“That would be great.”

Okay, maybe they would meet again. At least, Jaehyun wanted to see him (Or maybe just his friends?) again.


	13. Eggs

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got a lot of help from a friend for this chapter, thanks for that!

“What made you introduce Jaehyun and Taeyong to us? Did you want to get rid of them?” Johnny asked when they were settled on the couch in Doyoung’s living room. They decided to meet up on Friday night, after Johnny, Mark and Donghyuck finally met Jaehyun. Ten was there too and Doyoung had no doubt that he knew everything about the encounter with Jaehyun and Taeyong. Probably from three different perspectives.

“It seems like you aren’t that fond of Taeyong. Why is that?” Mark asked, his tone friendly and curious. Doyoung was just about to answer Johnny and Mark when Donghyuck spoke up.

“You’re jealous.” It was not a question but a statement. A closed case for Donghyuck. 

“Well Taeyong gets along with Jaehyun very well. I am afraid that he will make him forget about me. Maybe Jaehyun just spent time with me because he had no one else and now he has Taeyong, he does not need to be friends with me.” 

“Sweaty, that guy is too nice for his own good, I bet he befriends everyone he meets. But he spent a lot of time with your annoying ass, actually more than would be necessary to seem polite. That guy likes you. He won’t unfriend you just to hang out with Taeyong.” Ten spoke while his hand rested on Doyoung’s shoulders and even though Doyoung should be offended by Ten’s words, he felt comfort. The voice in his head reminding him that Jaehyun might leave him was still present. 

“How would you know? You don’t even know him. He looks happy when he’s with Taeyong. They look good together and they are both cool kids.” He did not mean to sound so bitter, but the situation bothered him immensely. 

(In his upset state he missed Haechan whispering “They are studying English, how cool can they be?”, to Mark next to him, who laughed at that.)

“Listen Doyoungie, Taeyong won’t break your friendship. If he tries, I am going to break him.” Johnny’s words would be reassuring if he wasn’t hugging Doyoung’s pink cat pillow. Doyoung couldn’t help but laugh. 

“Enough sulking for today, who wants shots?”

From then on, the evening was filled with light conversation. The more alcohol they drank, the better their mood got. And Mark allowed himself to enjoy Donghyuck’s touches just a little bit more than usual, to the delight of everyone in the room, especially Donghyuck. Johnny, Ten and Doyoung were already plotting how to tease the two of them later.  
Doyoung knew he had a very low alcohol tolerance and still he managed to end up drunk way to many times. What started as a plan to get Donghyuck and Mark to confess, disguised as a simple game of 20 Questions ended up as something different. Something nobody expected. At least something Doyoung didn’t expect. 

“Are you jealous because you think Taeyong is stealing your friend or jealous because you have a massive crush on Jaehyun?” Doyoung hated Johnny at that moment. He really did. That did not stop him from answering that question truthfully.

“At first I just thought Taeyong was stealing Jaehyun as a friend, but when I saw Taeyong touching Jae, I felt something different. I want to be the one touching Jae. Did you know that Jae has really nice hands? They look so soft, but then his arms are so muscularly and he looks so strong, I bet he could carry me easily. He looks so good next to Taeyong. It should be illegal for them to stand next to each other. They look perfect, but Taeyong was mean to me so I don’t like him. Jae should never talk to him again. I hate Taeyong. I want to be him. And Jae is so sweet, he makes me feel all giggly. It’s disgusting. Jae is so perfect. He is smart, he listens to me and he takes me seriously. I bet hugging him is nice too. What do you think?” He turned to Johnny and he just smiled knowingly and nodded. 

“So, you are telling us you have a crush?” Haechan asked with a big grin on his face. 

“Yes, I think I’m in love, I just want to cuddle him a lot. And do stuff together. He went to an art gallery with me. And art gallery, guys. It should be the worst thing ever, but I had so much fun. I didn’t even care that we had no plan. God I’m so gone.”

“That is so cute.” Mark said with a shaky voice.

“What the fuck, Mark, are you crying?” Donghyuck seemed to be surprised to see Mark show that much emotion. None of them ever saw Mark cry before.

“This is great. Doyoungie is talking about his feelings AND Mark is actually crying. I didn’t know that was even possible.” Ten and Johnny seemed to have the time of their lives.  
Doyoung didn’t even realize or care that he just confessed his love for Jaehyun, that he didn’t even knew he had, in front of his friends. He was too distracted by Mark cuddling up to Donghyuck. He was very excided for the next morning, to see how Mark would act. He hoped, that the two of them would finally realize their feelings and allowed themselves to be happy. Life was good.

~

Life was horrible. Doyoung woke up with a headache and the room spun when he moved to sit up. He closed his eyes and let himself fall back into his sheets with a loud groan. He didn’t remember getting into bed last night. A loud shout of “Oh, Mark” made Doyoung open his eyes again. Only then he realized that the matrasses around him were empty. Which means his friends were already up and able to destroy Doyoung’s kitchen for all he knew. After rolling around to get to the door he got up and went to the bathroom to find some pain killers. He would need them to deal with his friends at that moment. 

The kitchen looked fine when he entered, with Donghyuck and Mark standing near the stove, doing something with a spatula and Ten and Johnny chattering at the table.

“How are all of you so alive?”

“How is your tolerance so low?” Johnny fired back immediately.

Doyoung only managed to glare at Johnny before he slumped down on one of the chairs.

“What are Mark and Donghyuck trying to do?” 

“I think they are flirting. I am not sure thought. It looks like Mark is going to explode any minute. He has been trying to hold Donghyuck’s hand for the past 10 minutes, but Hyuckie has been holding a very passionate speech about fried eggs the whole time. He’s moving to much. I don’t think Donghyuck will figure out that Mark might return his feelings by himself.”

“Do you think Mark will tell him?” Doyoung asked. 

“It’s just as likely as you telling Jaehyun how you feel.” Ten and Johnny both looked at Doyoung knowingly.

“What are you talking about? What has me telling Jaehyun that I would like to consider him as a friend to do with Mark and Donghyuck being oblivious and in love?”  
Doyoung’s confusion grew, when Ten and Johnny looked at each other and started to laugh uncontrollably. 

“You literally confessed your feelings for ‘Jae’ last night. Mark cried at how cute it was.” Johnny explained eventually.

“As if. I don’t remember doing that and Mark definitely didn’t cry. Mark doesn’t do that.”

“Yes Mark cried, it was amazing. I can’t believe you forgot about something vital as Mark crying. How many drinks did you have?” Donghyuck said from his spot next to Mark, the latter blushing lightly.

“But Doyoung was very cute, he really seems to be in love.” Mark tried to defend himself.

“You are lying. Now shut up I have a headache. Did you at least manage to make something edible for breakfast?” Doyoung would have loved to go to bed at that moment, but he knew he would regret it the next few days. Everyone now looked in the direction of the pan, where something burned sizzled quietly. Doyoung just groaned and let his head fall on the table. His morning was not going great and he knew his friends would tease him even more about his alleged confession when he got rid of his hangover. 

“Shall I make you a hangover drink? I heard Tomato juice, chilli powder and raw eggs help.” Mark offered. Doyoung really hated his friends sometimes.


	14. Plans

The Sunday after their sleepover gave Doyoung the opportunity to rest, without his friends bugging him about Jaehyun. It also gave him the perfect opportunity to overthink his relationship with Jaehyun. He would definitely call Jaehyun a friend, but Jaehyun might be like that with a lot of people. These thoughts made him realise that he basically knew nothing about Jaehyun. What was his favourite colour, did he have any siblings, which school did he go to? Jaehyun also never really talked much about his other friends. Was he close with them? 

While Doyoung tried to distract himself from thinking by cleaning up, he stumbled across the love story he read all that time ago, when he was too nervous to look at his phone after texting Jaehyun for the first time. With his no deadlines or exams close, Doyoung decided to reread the book. He regret his choice about halfway into the book when the main character tells their love interest: “It doesn’t matter where we are, as long as I’m with you.” The story was supposed to distract him, but it left him with even more stuff to think about. Was Jaehyun actually flirting with him when he said words similar to that to Doyoung, when they were on their trip? That couldn’t be true. Jaehyun was nice and a good friend, he was able to make Doyoung feel comfortable and relaxed, which only a few people actually managed to do regularly. At some point that day, Doyoung realized that he liked Jaehyun in a slightly different way than the one he liked his friends in. And maybe there was another word than 'like' to describe Doyoung’s feelings for the other boy. Doyoung would like for Jaehyun’s words to be flirting. Not that he would ever admit that to himself or others.

Doyoung really expected to be greeted with an awkward atmosphere when Jaehyun and Taeyong entered the classroom in which their class would take place. He reminded himself that nothing changed. Sure, Doyoung spend most of the weekend trying to figure out what happened Friday night and whether he really said he likes Jaehyun in his drunken state. Doyoung suppressed his thoughts to not get lost in them again and greeted the two boys. 

They talked till the class started. Before he paid attention to the professor, Jaehyun asked Doyoung to meet him after class in a hushed voice. Even though he didn’t sound angry or disappointed, Doyoung still worried. What would Jaehyun want from him that can’t be said in a simple text or wait for the next time they’d see each other with just the two of them present. Needless to say, Doyoung spend the remanding time of the class with worrying. 

After class Taeyong left for the cafeteria on his own, leaving Jaehyun and Doyoung to talk. 

“What’s up?” Doyoung asked, hopeful to not sound nervous. The slight shaking gave him away however.

"So, there is this like new restaurant that I like want to try out. With you. Like just us two.” Jaehyun said. It did not escape Doyoung’s notice, that Jaehyun was nervous. Why would he be? He was just asking to try out a new restaurant, was he? Or was he asking for a date? Doyoung stopped his thoughts there. Jaehyun surely was just friendly. It was just a meal with two friends hanging out. Doyoung saw Jaehyun shifting slightly and realized that he took way too long to answer.

“Sure, what kind of restaurant is it?”

“Indian.”

“Indian? I don’t know. Is it good?” Jaehyun’s expression changed and Doyoung wasn’t able to figure out what it meant.

“I’ve heard they are very good. But we can go somewhere else if you want to.”

“Oh no, we can go there, I’m sure I’ll find something I like there. And besides, I have some great company that can make up for the food if needed.” The words made Jaehyun grin, Doyoung noticed how Jaehyun’s dimples appeared. God, how he loved seeing those. Distracted by his thoughts, Doyoung almost missed Jaehyun’s soft “I’m excited”. 

They left to go to the cafeteria after they’ve settled the details. They would meet that week. Doyoung couldn’t help but think their conversation was awkward and he sincerely hoped it was not because of him and his stupid crush on Jaehyun. While they made their way to the table in the cafeteria that was already occupied by their friends, Doyoung felt his panic rising. He was going to meet Jaehyun in a restaurant. Alone. Almost like a date. He really needed to stop thinking like that. He didn’t want it to become weird between him and Jaehyun. They were just going to a restaurant. As friends. They’ve done that before. He could do it.

“Are you going to get food or sit down or are you planning on becoming a statue over there.” Donghyuck’s snarky voice interrupted his thoughts. He then noticed everyone at the table staring at him. Without him realising, Jaehyun and him reached the table his friends sat on. Doyoung’s face reddened and he glared at Donghyuck.

“I was trying to get myself in the mindset of a statue of Ares to work out the best strategy to kill your annoying ass.”  
Johnny snorted at that but otherwise, everyone at the table remained quiet. Since Doyoung packed his own lunch that day, he sat down next to Jaehyun and started to eat.  
Everyone seemed tense for some reason Doyoung did not understand. Or was it his own imagination again? They seemed to look between him and Jaehyun. Especially Taeyong seemed to have forgotten about his food just to look at them.

“Sooo, what did you two talk about?” Johnny finally spoke. So, this was what this was about. Jaehyun visibly tensed at Johnny’s words. 

“Nothing special, why? Is your own life so boring that you need to ask about ours?”

“Someone is in a great mood today.” Donghyuck remarked, his tone unusual non sarcastic. He then high-fived Doyoung even though he was the subject of Doyoung’s teasing just a few moments prior. 

“Sorry guys, I am just stressed right now.” Doyoung apologized, not wanting his friends to believe he meant what he said.

“Oh, is there something on your mind? Or does it have to do with someone? Do I have to fight anyone? Donghyuck, get ready to throw some fists!” Johnny said, getting louder with every sentence. His gaze fell on Jaehyun, far to obviously for Doyoung’s liking.

“No, Johnny, we talked about that. No fighting. I can handle myself just fine. And I doubt that you could fist fight the education system, even if you had Hyuckie with you.”

“You know what Doyoungie, my life is boring, I just want some action. It feels like nothing happens ever. University is stressing all of us out. It is time to do something! We should go on an adventure!” At some point during his speech Johnny stood up from his seat and made eye contact with every person sitting at their table.

“Calm down Johnny, it’s not that dramatic.” Mark said burying his head in his hands. 

“Let’s go on a walk in the forest next weekend.” Donghyuck suggested.

“What the hell Hyuckie, I said I want an adventure, not that I want to have the old people programme. I expected better of you.”

“Not like that.” Donghyuck said while rolling his eyes. “At night, in the forest near Doyoungie’s house. They probably killed people in there before. Maybe we will even find a dead body or something.”

“Hyuck, that is a very dumb idea.” Mark said.

“What, are you scared, Mark?” Johnny added with a grin already spreading on his face.

“No, why would I?” Mark asked, his face growing pale. Doyoung felt sorry for him.

“Then where’s the problem? It is better than sitting at home doing nothing all the time. And a thousand timed better than University. Who’s in?” To Doyoung’s surprise everyone raised their hands, including Jaehyun and Taeyong. Doyoung himself was not keen to take a walk through the forest at night and even less keen on letting Taeyong and Jaehyun into his house (which was inevitable knowing his friends would end up hanging out and staying at his house anyways). So, he sighed and raised his hand in reluctance. Johnny and Donghyuck let out screeches of excitement, while Jaehyun and Taeyong smiled at them and Mark and Doyoung tried not to freak out. Maybe Doyoung was not so sorry for being harsh earlier anymore.


	15. Doors

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well that took a while, but it is the longest chapter yet :)  
> Enjoy~

Doyoung was surprisingly calm when he left his house to meet Jaehyun. Jaehyun offered to pick up Doyoung for their trip to the restaurant, but Doyoung refused, since his house would be a detour from the rout. He left the house early, as always, not wanting to leave Jaehyun waiting. The panic kicked in when Doyoung saw Jaehyun wait for him, leaning on the wall next to the entrance to the restaurant, dressed up and undeniably handsome. His whole aura screamed dateable. At that moment Doyoung was sure that his crush was different from the others. The feeling went far too deep and his stomach felt tingly. It was an odd sensation and Doyoung hated it. For a short moment he just let his gaze linger, wondering why someone like Jaehyun spent so much time with him. It made no sense. Jaehyun could spend time with everyone he would want to, and yet he chose Doyoung. Eventually Doyoung took the last few steps to reach Jaehyun.

“Hey there.” He said and he felt the tingling sensation in his stomach again, when Jaehyun's face lit up when he looked at Doyoung.

“Hey, shall we go in? Or would you rather go somewhere else after seeing this place?” Jaehyun asked. Just then Doyoung noticed the building Jaehyun was leaning against. The façade was painted in a weird tone of yellow, giving the building a rather rundown look. The neon lettering advertised traditional Indian cuisine and the windows where darkened.

“Well, it does not look like a place I would normally go to, but I trust you with this one. Just so you know, I don’t think food poisoning is very romantic.” Jaehyun just laughed at Doyoung’s words.

“Let’s get inside then.” Jaehyun held open the door for Doyoung and they were seated at a table near the windows facing the backyard of the building, the sign on it saying  
“reserved”. 

The interior was much nicer than the exterior, although it seemed stuffed with statues of Indian gods. They were the only guests in the restaurant.

“You reserved a table?” Doyoung asked, his tone sceptic because of the lack of other customers around them.

“It was just in case. My friend said it can get really busy at times.”

“Oh, your friend? Did they recommend the place to you?” Doyoung asked, actually interested in the answer Jaehyun was going to give. Maybe Doyoung would find out more about Jaehyun’s friends that night.

“Yes, he loves food, I think he has been to every restaurant in the city. And there are a lot of restaurants there. His cooking is amazing as well. Maybe you will be able to try it yourself someday.”

“I am sure his cooking is amazing, since I know your taste in chicken – infested with salmonella, served in shady restaurants. Maybe we should’ve gone somewhere else after all.” Doyoung said, his tone light.

He was dining with a friend after all. There was no reason at all to be nervous. They ordered food and drinks and fell into a comfortable silence.

“Are you excited for our walk in the forest? Hyuckie made it out to be more entertaining than it actually is. It‘s just a bunch of trees and an unbelievable amount of mice and whatever lives in the forest. And I hope you are okay with dogs; we will probably take her with us. She can make you feel either safer or absolutely terrified, depending on what she’s doing. Sometimes she barks randomly or is suspiciously attentive to something. “ Doyoung eventually started the conversation. 

“Now I made it sound like it is very scary… What do you think? “ he added.

“Well… I think dogs are lovely, so don’t worry about that. As for the scary part, I don’t believe in ghosts at all, so I don’t think that there are any scary things or actually anything else out there in the forest. Also it wouldn’t make sense for people to be out in the forest at night-time, either. So I am good to go. I think we should watch out for Mark though.” 

“That’s true, I’m not sure he will survive that night. But you mister good to go over here have obviously not watched enough murder mystery documentaries. Most of the murders happen in cabins in the forest or someplace far from the city. As for ghosts...” Doyoung started, but was interrupted by Jaehyun.

“Please don’t tell me you believe in ghosts.”

“What? No, I wanted to say that that stuff is bullshit. Johnny and Hyuck are going to be scared though. They always say that they aren’t scared, but they always end up cuddling under blankets when something slightly spooky happens. And I am sure Ten is coming as well, you haven’t met him yet, but Johnny will surely bring him along, I hope you don’t mind.” Jaehyun gave a small nod at that and while continuing to talk, Doyoung noticed that he had been talking a lot, without giving Jaehyun the chance to talk as well. 

“And Ten is well, uhm scared.” Doyoung stopped talking when he decided to look at Jaehyun and saw nothing but genuine interest in Doyoung’s words. He was used to people not listening to or getting annoyed by his rambling and he did not expect to see Jaehyun looking at him with wide eyes. Doyoung wasn’t able to continue talking. 

“I am excited to meet Ten. It is going to be interesting with people being scared.” Jaehyun picked up the conversation. “I actually have never done something like that with my friends, even when we were younger. It is a nice change for me to be able to get outside like that.”

“Oh, you never took a walk at night? Not even stargazing? Please tell me you had picnics with friends before.” It surprised Doyoung that Jaehyun didn’t seem to have experienced all the things he did. Jaehyun seemed like the adventurous type.

“Nope, we sometimes had cake or fruit in someone’s garden if that counts?” Jaehyun said, looking expectantly at Doyoung. 

“No! Of course, that doesn’t count, are you crazy? You have a lot to experience then. Oh my god, I have to ask Mark and Hyuckie if they had picnics before. We need to have one soon. They aren’t as fun in Winter.”

“Wait a minute, did you have a picnic in winter at some point?”

“Of course, why wouldn’t you? You get lots and lots of blankets and some tea or hot chocolate and you’re good to go. Oh, and bringing Johnny is always a good idea. He is warm and very willing to cuddle with you.”

“Johnny? Are you sure about that? You said something about him cuddling with Haechan before. He does not seem like a cuddly person to me.”

“Don’t let his height fool you, he is actually a big softie. Ten is the opposite. He his short but dangerous. And he is an asshole 50% of the time. I should be nicer. I hope you don’t think Ten is a bad person now, he really isn't. We get along well most of the time. I should stop talking now. How are your friends?”  
Jaehyun laughed softly but proceeded to talk.

“There is not much to say to be honest. My best friend Sicheng is very shy, so we never really went out much, we often watch movies together or Kun and I make dinner for us. Kun is the one that recommended this restaurant. He is training to become a chef. And there is Taeil, he is actually a tutor for English at the University, we might meet him in one of the tutorials. He’s the oldest of my friends. He is super funny, but quiet. Except for when Sicheng is around. We don’t do many exiting things to tell you about to be honest. We just talk I guess.” 

“Talking is great. It is really stressful to always do stuff and we get into trouble occasionally as well. I don’t even know why I am still friends with them.”  
They shared stories of their friends for the next hour (Like that time Doyoung accidentally broke into a botanical garden with Ten and Johnny or the time Jaehyun and his friends tried to play football). Again, Doyoung found himself enjoying himself, without worrying about anything. Doyoung decided to just ignore the feeling in his stomach whenever Jaehyun looked him in the eyes and smiled. He could make sense of that later. 

By the time they finished their drinks and it was time to go home it had started to rain.

“How did you get here.” Jaehyun asked. Doyoung was sure that Jaehyun was going to offer to drive him home. So, he thought of a way to talk himself out of it. He didn’t want to inconvenience Jaehyun in any way. He then looked up and told Jaehyun that he took the train.  
Jaehyun just smirked at that. 

“And how did you get to the station?” At that moment Doyoung knew that he had lost. 

“By bike” He said quietly.

“Let me take you home.” Jaehyun said with a pleased grin and Doyoung found himself unable to say no. He was not eager to drive through the rain anyways and Jaehyun could see where he had to go for their walk. It made sense. 

“How am I going to get to the station tomorrow then, when my bike is still there?” Doyoung looked up after he thought of that in a last attempt to not bother Jaehyun with taking him home. To his dismay Jaehyun’s smile didn’t even falter.

“My car is big enough for your bike.” He said with a wink. Doyoung doesn’t know how to feel. So he just laughs.

“Fine, but just this once. And I am driving the next time.” They made their way to a car park nearby in comfortable silence.  
When they were seated in Jaehyun’s car (It could hold up to seven people Doyoung noticed) Jaehyun spoke up again.

“How did you like the food?”

“I will tell you tomorrow after I know if I have food poisoning or not.” Doyoung snorted. He quickly added an “I enjoyed it” to make sure Jaehyun doesn’t misunderstand him. He really liked the food.

“I am still choosing next time” he said after Jaehyun chuckled a bit. 

“Good to hear that I haven’t completely scared you off with my taste in food.” Jaehyun said with a smile. They were now driving past the city, the rain beating down on the windows distorting the lights of the outside world. Doyoung felt safe in the car with Jaehyun. Soft music was playing from the speakers and Doyoung felt like he could fall asleep in seconds. Jaehyun was a good driver, the ride was smooth and Doyoung was surprised when the car stopped. He looked around and realized that they reached the train station. Jaehyun looked at him expectantly. 

“I will get my bike.” Doyoung said after looking at Jaehyun a few seconds to long to be normal. They put the bike in the trunk of Jaehyun’s car without troubles and Doyoung was glad to be back in the warmth of Jaehyun’s car. The rain kept on pouring making the silence of the night eerie. All Doyoung felt was calm however when he watched Jaehyun fasten his seatbelt and starting the car. The tingling sensation in his stomach was hard to ignore at this point. 

“Where to now.” Jaehyun said, catching Doyoung of guard. He completely forgot that Jaehyun had no idea where he lived. 

“Just turn right and follow that street for now.” Talking felt weird for Doyoung and he started to think over the evening. Time seemed to move slower now and Doyoung was aware of his every move. The silence was suddenly uncomfortable for Doyoung. He knew that it was just himself as he saw Jaehyun smiling softly to himself in the driver’s seat, his gaze fixed on the street before him. 

“Turn left here.” Doyoung broke the silence, his voice sounding too loud over the quiet rumbling of the engine and the constant tapping of the rain on the windows.

“There is a street on the right behind that sign.” They were close to Doyoung’s home now, the forest around them blocking some of the rain. 

“My house is there on the right.” A big house came into view, one of the windows lit up, the rest covered in darkness.

“Now I get why people would be scared to walk through a forest. How can it be so dark?” Jaehyun asked after he stopped the car.

“Normally it’s not as bad, when the stars and the moon are out. Then it’s quite beautiful.”

“I can imagine that.” Jaehyun said while looking at Doyoung. The gaze was to intense to handle for Doyoung so he broke their eye contact to loosen his seatbelt. He noticed that his hands were trembling and he failed to open it right away. After he eventually succeeded, he looked at Jaehyun again.

“Thank you for taking me home. I really, really appreciate it. I owe you a ride.”

“It’s my pleasure. And I know where you live now.”

“Is that a threat?” Doyoung asked jokingly before he was able to stop himself. There went the serious atmosphere. At least Jaehyun was laughing.

“Maybe, let’s get your bike out.” They got out of the car and Doyoung immediately started shivering. They worked in silence again and after Doyoung put his bike away he found Jaehyun still standing next to his car, the rain slowly dripping down his face. Doyoung only realized that he stopped moving when the lights went out due to a lack of movement. 

“You should’ve waited in the car, now you are completely soaked.” Doyoung scolded after he reached Jaehyun. 

“It’s fine, it’s just water.” Doyoung rolled his eyes at Jaehyun’s response. After a quick onceover Doyoung realized that Jaehyun didn’t seem to be cold at all, while he was shivering in the rain. Doyoung suppressed the sudden urge to reach out and check if Jaehyun felt as warm as he looked. It turned out that Jaehyun was warm. Doyoung let out a soft breath when he felt his body being pulled close to Jaehyun’s. He let his hands grasp the sides of Jaehyun’s jacket to steady himself. Warmth spread through Doyoung’s shirt where Jaehyun’s arms held him in place. 

Before Doyoung could process what was happening, Jaehyun let him go and whispered “See you”. He then turned around to get to his car. When he turned around to wave, Doyoung still hasn’t moved. “Bye” was all Doyoung managed to choke out before he turned around to get into his house. His skin still felt warm when he looked back to see Jaehyun still waiting in his car, watching him. Doyoung smiled and waved one last time before closing the door behind himself.


	16. The Morning After

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was really unsure about this chapter, so if you find anything odd or that doesn't make sense, please tell me, I love to get feedback to improve my writing~  
> Also I am reworking the other chapters now, to correct , some mistakes and things that don't make sense and updates will be quicker again (hopefully :D)

To Doyoung’s surprise, Taeyong was already in the room of their seminar when he arrived.

“You’re early today.” Doyoung said when he said down next to Taeyong. He tried to keep any negative intonation from his voice. Taeyong didn’t do anything wrong after all. 

“Yes, my lecturer was bored of the topic so he made it quick. It is convenient since I wanted to talk to you anyways.”  
This was it. The moment Taeyong would tell Doyoung to leave Jaehyun alone. That he didn’t deserve Jaehyun’s attention. 

“How was your date with Jaehyun? I didn’t talk to him about it yet. Did it go well?”  
For a brief moment Doyoung could only stare. Date? Why did Taeyong ask as if it was a well-known fact that he and Jaehyun went out on a date? Especially since they didn’t. The noise of the door opening snapped Doyoung out of his thoughts and he answered Taeyong’s questions.

“What do you mean? We just went out to have dinner. I don’t even know if Jaehyun considers me a friend.” Taeyong looked shocked at Doyoung’s words, but to his surprise Taeyong wasn’t looking at him, but at a spot behind him. Doyoung turned around and smiled, when he realized that Jaehyun was standing behind him.  
Doyoung greeted Jaehyun cheerly only to be met with a blank face. Jaehyun glared at him for a moment before he turned away. He then proceeded to sit down next to Taeyong, despite the seat next to Doyoung being free as well. Something in Doyoung’s chest tightened and he tried not to cry. This was it. Jaehyun finally realized that Doyoung wasn’t worth it. He decided to stick with Taeyong from now on. Taeyong probably made fun of Doyoung earlier. He turned his body away from the other two boys and acted like he was reading one of the texts so nobody would see the tears well up in his eyes. After a while he felt a soft touch on his lower back. He carefully glanced to his side to find out that it was Taeyong’s hand that was now rubbing comfortingly on his back. 

Doyoung didn’t just want to leave it at that, so he leaned over Taeyong to talk to Jaehyun. Maybe they could talk it out. There has to be a reason for Jaehyun’s mood. So he swallowed his pride and worry to thank Jaehyun.

“Thank you again, for taking me home last night, I had a lot of fun.” He forced himself to smile even though Jaehyun’s gaze made him want to frown.

“Won’t happen again.” Jaehyun said curtly, making Doyoung angry. Why can’t Jaehyun just say what his problem was?

“What’s your problem?” Doyoung inquired, not caring that his voice was laced with aggression. 

“I just don’t wanna talk to you. Why should I explain myself to you? Not like you care.”

“Why would you think I don’t care? I am your friend, of course I care when you seem to be upset with me for a reason I can’t see.”

“Oh, so now you are my friend, huh?”

“What the hell are you talking about? Please just talk to me. I want to understand.” The fight left Doyoung when he saw the pain in Jaehyun’s eyes. 

Without another word Jaehyun turned around and ignored both Doyoung and Taeyong, who was just as confused over the situation as Doyoung was.  
Nothing made sense anymore and Doyoung just wanted to go home, curl up in his bed and eventually tell Ten or Johnny everything. Why would Taeyong comfort him after making fun of him? Even if he was confused, he found that Taeyong’s touch calmed him down enough so that he was able to look him in the eyes again. Doyoung only found genuine sympathy in Taeyong’s gaze and didn’t find it in him to hate him. When he glanced at Jaehyun, the boy still wasn’t looking his way. His whole body seemed tense and his eyebrows were furrowed. Doyoung had no idea what happened that Jaehyun lost his cool like that. A very small part of Doyoung’s brain told him that this had nothing to do with him and that Jaehyun just had a bad day or something like that, but the majority of his thoughts revolved around what he could possibly have done to set off Jaehyun like that. Doyoung took a deep breath when the professor entered the room and he finally could concentrate on something else. Taeyong stopped rubbing his back, but Doyoung felt calm enough by then to not burst into tears. During the lesson Doyoung sometimes caught himself looking over in Jaehyun’s direction. His expression softened a bit, but it was still evident that Jaehyun was upset. 

Near the end of the lesson, Doyoung eventually started to worry and to see the severity of the situation in regard to his relationship with Jaehyun. He could lose Jaehyun as a friend and he wasn’t able to do anything, because he didn’t know what was wrong. He felt like crying again. Before he could come up with a plan, the professor dismissed the class and Jaehyun excused himself. Doyoung felt like he should follow Jaehyun, but he couldn’t move. Taeyong moved instead and followed him out of the door after telling Doyoung that he will deal with Jaehyun. 

The noise in the cafeteria felt quiet compared to the racing thoughts in Doyoung’s mind. He couldn’t recall walking over to the cafeteria, he knew that he wanted to have someone to talk to, to deal with his confusion. 

From the expressions of his friends when they saw him approach their table, he knew that they somehow knew what happened. Johnny opened his arms and Doyoung didn’t fight the urge to cry any longer. He buried himself in Johnny’s arms and let his warmth surround him. His tears were silent and few, slowly making their way down his face, leaving hot tracks on his skin before falling on the fabric of Johnny’s shirt. After a few minutes the tears stopped and Doyoung wriggled himself out of Johnny’s arms. 

“How did you know something happened? I could see it in your faces when I got here.” Doyoung felt how his voice was weak and raspy from the crying and he hoped that no one in the cafeteria witnessed the state he was in right now. 

“That was our telepathic bond. We are friends after all.” Donghyuck said making Doyoung smile a little. Mark slapped Donghyuck’s arm and started to explain.

“Taeyong told us that something happened between you and Jaehyun and asked us to take care of you, while he talks to him.” 

“Do you want to talk about it?” Johnny asked and Doyoung told his friends about the dinner and the way home and what happened earlier.

“That seems odd. It makes no sense. Jaehyun likes you and you didn’t do anything that could’ve upset him that much. I’m sure it is going to be okay. He might just have had a very bad day somehow.” Doyoung felt a lot better after talking to his friends and realizing that they were on his side. Everything is going to be fine. Probably.  
Taeyong suddenly appeared next to Doyoung, his face serious, but relaxed. It gave Doyoung hope. 

“Jaehyun is in the library room next to the elevator on the second floor. He would like to speak to you. He just wants to apologise so don’t worry.”  
All of their eyes were on Taeyong. 

“Is he serious? I’m going to go there and tell him what I think of this! Hyuckie, get ready.” Johnny already started walking to the exit when Taeyong stopped him. Donghyuck was stuffing the rest of his meal in his mouth and tried to put on his jacket, but stopped when he noticed Taeyong’s stern gaze.

“I know you haven’t known me for long, but please trust me with this. Jaehyun had his reasons, which are in no way an excuse for his shitty behaviour, but that’s why he wants to apologize now. Give him a chance please.” Taeyong reasoned and it seemed to work, seeing that Johnny and Donghyuck settled back into their seats. 

“We should ask Doyoung, what he wants to do before we do anything don’t you think?” Mark asked and all the eyes turned to Doyoung. He had no idea if he wanted to see Jaehyun now, but Taeyong said that he wanted to apologise. It would only be fair to hear him out before judging, Doyoung thought. And he was curious what happened.

“I will go.” 

“Alright. Text us immediately when something happens. We will be nearby.” Johnny said and gave Doyoung a tight hug.

“He isn’t leaving to a foreign country on his own Johnny. He will be fine, stop being so dramatic.” Donghyuck piped up, making everyone chuckle. The nervous tension of the group was resolved and Doyoung felt confident when he left to find Jaehyun. He is not going to run away from his problems again. Normally he would just hope that he never had to talk to the person he was in conflict with again, but Jaehyun was different. Doyoung felt save with Jaehyun and enjoyed his company so much, that he was willing to talk to Jaehyun even after the boy hurt his feelings. There surely was a good reason behind Jaehyun’s behaviour. His confidence wavered when he stood in front of the door to the library room. Taeyong could be lying and he and Jaehyun were actually going to make fun of him for believing Jaehyun actually cared about him. Doyoung had to remind himself that this wasn’t school anymore and that neither Jaehyun nor Taeyong were mean like that. He took a last deep breath before opening the door. Jaehyun was slumped in one of the chairs and had his head buried in his hands. It broke Doyoung’s heart to see Jaehyun less energetic than usual. Doyoung placed a hand on Jaehyun’s shoulder to get his attention.

“Hey” he said in hopes of Jaehyun taking the hint to start talking.

“I though you would refuse to come here and talk.” Jaehyun said. Doyoung noticed that his eyes were red. Did Jaehyun cry too?

“Why would I refuse. I really want to know what upset you so much. Did I do something wrong?”

“No, of course not. You haven’t done anything wrong and there is no excuse for what I did. There was just something that I” Jaehyun took a short break to think of how to continue, “misunderstood. I sincerely apologize for what I said to you and I want you to know that I didn’t mean any of it. I was hurt and I took it out on you. I shouldn’t have done that, especially since you are a really good friend to me. I’m sorry." Doyoung looked at Jaehyun for a few moments after he stopped talking. He didn’t expect an apology as sincere as the one Jaehyun provided at all and his mind lingered on the fact that Jaehyun confirmed that they were friends. He smiled at that thought. He felt that most of the anger he might have had for Jaehyun disappeared. In general, he found that he wasn’t really angry with Jaehyun to begin with. He was sad but didn’t blame Jaehyun. He should work on his morals. He would need time to fully trust Jaehyun again, but he didn’t think that it would be difficult.  
“What did you misunderstand?” Doyoung said, curious on Jaehyun’s answer. When Jaehyun didn’t respond to his question, Doyoung looked up to see the conflict in Jaehyun’s face. Was it so bad that he didn’t want to talk about it? Or was he just embarrassed?

“It’s okay if you can’t tell me right now. I really want to know, but I can see it is bothering you so you can tell me when you’re ready.” Doyoung said, not wanting to make Jaehyun even more uncomfortable.

“Thank you so much really. You shouldn’t be so nice to me after what I have said to you.”

“I hate fighting with people I like and I owe you one anyways, for taking me home.”  
Doyoung didn’t know how to respond to Jaehyun’s thankful gaze so he settled for trying to make Jaehyun laugh. “I hereby declare a truce.” He said while holding out his hand for Jaehyun to take. His plan succeeded and Jaehyun straightened his body, his face visibly relaxing.

“Really?” Jaehyun asked and Doyoung nodded. 

“You have to prove yourself though. So that I know you really mean what you said.” 

“Thank you so much for hearing me out, seriously, it means a lot to me. I will try my best to proof that I’m worthy of your friendship.” It made Doyoung cringe at how weirdly cheesy their conversation has become. After Jaehyun looked at Doyoung for a while with a concentrated face he added a shy “Can I hug you?”  
Not able to talk because of his surprise, Doyoung just nodded and put his arms around Jaehyun’s middle. It felt nice to be able to hug Jaehyun when he actually knew what was happening. Doyoung was able to take Jaehyun in, his scent his warmth and the beating of his heart. Jaehyun must have been very nervous judging from how fast his heart was beating.

“Sorry to interrupt, but we have class in like five minutes. I brought your bag Dons, thank me later.” Donghyuck called from his spot leaning on the doorframe. He let Doyoung’s bag fall on the ground unceremoniously and turned around to leave the room. A few seconds later a loud “They hugged it out” could be heard from the library hallway, followed by an angry voice shouting that they should be quiet in the library. Jaehyun and Doyoung burst into laughing when Donghyuck told the librarian to start bettering themselves before lecturing him and then ran out the library’s doors.

“We should leave as well; I am not keen on being late for class.”

“Me neither, let’s go.”

With that the two boys left the library. Doyoung has gained new confidence in his relationship with Jaehyun and even though he still wondered what Jaehyun had misunderstood to lash out like he did, he was willing to wait until Jaehyun was ready to tell him on his own accord. At least Jaehyun didn’t hate him and Doyoung was just glad to be able to restart their relationship and leave their fight behind them. He was still wary and his pride was hurt in the process of maintaining his good relationship with Jaehyun. The next weeks are going to be awkward, but Doyoung felt that he was willing to put in some effort. He let out a deep sigh.


	17. Change

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things are tense and there are some new people to make things more chaotic~

In preparation of their nightly walk, Doyoung set up his room with matrasses and extra blankets and cooked food for them to heat up later. Doyoung finished early and sat down to do some reading for University and put on some music. He left the door to his house open and send a message to the group chat he created to plan their meetup, that the boys were free to come in when they arrived. Five minutes after their agreed meeting time, Doyoung heard the noises of people coming up the stairs. He put his things away and made his way in the direction of the stairs. He stopped walking immediately when he heard an unfamiliar voice say: “Wow, this is neat. Maybe I should leave my door open as well.” Did somebody break in? That wouldn’t make any sense.

“That is a fucking dumb idea, Chenle. You live in the middle of the city, that would be weird.” Doyoung’s panic lessened when he was able to identify the other voice as Donghyuck’s. Soon Doyoung reached the stairs and saw six boys making their way up the steps.

“Donghyuck? Care to explain why the fuck there are five people I don’t know in my house?”

“Well… I figured you wouldn’t mind more people. They brought snacks.” Doyoung was angry at Donghyuck for not telling him beforehand but didn’t want to make a scene in front of the boys. He can’t imagine how bad they would feel when he kicked them out or got Donghyuck in trouble. They are not supposed to think Doyoung was a cold-hearted person.

“Can you at least introduce us?” Doyoung gave in with a sigh, after sending a pointed look at Donghyuck.

“See, I told you he wouldn’t reject you.” Donghyuck told the others with a shit eating grin.

“Donghyuck” Doyoung practically growled now, getting fed up with the younger boy’s antics.

“Fine” Donghyuck rolled his eyes. “Those fellas are Jisung, Chenle, Jaemin, Renjun and Jeno.” He continued while pointing at each of the boys. They all gave a shy wave. “I forced them and stuff, you should be angry at me if you feel like being angry at someone. Those guys are angels.” Doyoung gave the boys a onceover and doubted Donghyuck’s words immediately. They agreed to show up at a stranger’s house without being invited after all. But they looked genuinely nervous at the conversation Doyoung and Donghyuck had.

“Alright, come upstairs then.” Donghyuck dashed past him enthusiastically, the other boys following a bit slower, but the excitement and relief was evident in their faces. When the last of them bowed lightly in front of Doyoung, apologised for intruding and thanked him for taking them in, Doyoung felt that it was okay to have them there. At least he prepared the house for visitors beforehand so they wouldn’t have a chaotic image of his house.  
When Doyoung entered the living room the boys where already sprawled over the couch comfortably.

“So how come Donghyuck decided to bring you along? How do you know him?”

“Fate brought us together.” One of the boys said, Jaemin if Doyoung recalled correctly. He groaned, since Donghyuck’s friends seemed to be a handful. His evening just got even more stressful.

“Stop being a fucking sap, Jaem. Chenle and Jisung met in their last year of school, Jeno and Jaemin knew each other since basically forever. And then Haechan made friends with Jaemin, Chenle, and I in his classes and forced us to do ice skating with him. Jeno and Jisung tagged along because they had nothing better to do. Since then we hang out sometimes.”

“Hey, I didn’t force you, you thought it was a great idea!”

“You know that isn’t true Hyuck.” The boys then proceeded to bicker with each other, just like Doyoung and his friends often did. Doyoung felt very fond at the sight of the playful argument that ensued right in front of him due to that. Plus, Donghyuck seemed to be very comfortable with the other boys. Through this distraction he didn’t notice the people that entered the house and came up the stairs. 

“Why the fuck is there a bunch of children on the couch?” Ten shouted when he entered the living room followed by Johnny. Doyoung jerked hard and felt his heart beat franticly for the second time that day. He suspected it wouldn’t be the last time either. 

“What the fuck Ten! Be polite for fucks sake.” He said after a short moment of calming down.

“Whoops, sorry. Who’s that now?” 

“Donghyuck brought friends.” Just at that moment Taeyong, Mark, and Jaehyun entered the already crowded room. Doyoung noticed that Jaehyun seemed less confident than usual.

“Mark!” Donghyuck practically screamed when he realized the boy came in.  
Most of the people in the room rolled their eyes, including the boys seated on the couch. Doyoung couldn’t help a small giggle that escaped at the sight in front of him. He then realized that the others were quietly looking at him. He made short eye contact with Jaehyun and smiled at him. 

“Shall I start preparing the food? I think I should have enough for all of us, but there is not enough space for all of us to eat at a table, I’m afraid.” He said to break the weird atmosphere.

While Doyoung prepared the meal in the kitchen, the others started arranging the seating order. At some point, where it was no longer possible to distinguish singular conversations, Jaehyun and Taeyong joined Doyoung in the kitchen.

“Didn’t even greet you properly earlier, this is such a mess. I hope you don’t mind. Anyways, welcome to my home.” Doyoung said, hoping that the two boys weren’t completely annoyed by the situation. 

“It’s alright Doyoung, don’t worry. The more the merrier.” Taeyong said and, to Doyoung’s surprise, came over to hug him in greeting. Jaehyun just gave a small wave. Doyoung knew that it probably was because they fought a few days ago, but it still hurt to see Jaehyun keeping his distance. 

“Thank you for preparing food for all of us, do you need help with that?” Jaehyun asked. Doyoung noticed that he kept his distance and tried to not show that his mood was affected by Jaehyun’s reservation. He couldn’t be angry at him for it though, because they were in an awkward phase right after a fight after all. Since he was almost finished preparing the food, he figured that now that he had some help, he could go and set up the place so they would be able to eat. 

With that Doyoung left to see if the group already decided on what to do with the seating arrangements. They decided to have 5 people eat in the kitchen while the rest was going to eat in the living room. To his horror the others already seemed to have taken all the smaller tables available in the house to the living room for them to eat from. Doyoung could only hope that everyone was going to help cleaning up the mess that they probably are going to make. Jeno came over to him and told him that he tried to stop the others., when he saw the look of distress in Doyoung’s face. Doyoung decided that Jeno was a good kid. 

After some fighting over where to place the tables, Doyoung decided to take out the plates and cutlery. Taeyong and Jaehyun were huddled together closely in the kitchen when he entered, whispering something to each other. Doyoung tried to supress the feelings welling up in him. It hurt him to see Jaehyun standing so close to Taeyong, probably since the atmosphere between himself and Jaehyun was tense at the moment and less warm than before. Seeing them like that made Doyoung want to hate Taeyong again, for fitting so perfectly next to Jaehyun, while not being an ass about it to Doyoung. A small part of himself also wanted to blame himself for not being enough. He was quick to push those thoughts aside, since he knew they were irrational. There was no competition between him and Taeyong. The whole conflict was just in Doyoung’s mind. Just Taeyong being friends with Jaehyun was no reason to believe that Doyoung couldn’t be as well.

“You should stop whispering, the soup is burning.” There was no soup but Doyoung relished the faces of utter shock the two other boys made at his words. After some frantic stirring in the various pots, they realized that Doyoung was messing with them and started to laugh alongside Doyoung who was happy to be able to joke around with his friends. Jaehyun seemed less tense than when he entered the house earlier.

“You scared us; I thought the ghost were supposed to do that later.” Jaehyun said jokingly. Doyoung observed Taeyong’s face going pale.

“Please don’t say stuff like that.” He said in a timid voice. Both Jaehyun and Doyoung looked at Taeyong, surprised at the elder’s reaction. Then they looked at each other, slight amusement in both of their eyes. 

“No need to worry Taeyong, I will be with you the whole time. And besides that, ghosts don’t exist.”  
Jaehyun said calmly, while running his hand up and down Taeyong’s arm. Doyoung contemplated to fake being scared for a short moment, to get Jaehyun’s attention, but wanted to roll his eyes at himself immediately after the thought occurred. This was stupid. Jaehyun was nice to Taeyong and wanted to calm him down. He had every right to do that without Doyoung being jealous. Not that he wanted to be coddled by Jaehyun or anything like that.

“And do you really think that any ghost would come near us if they existed? The children are far too loud for that.” Doyoung added just to not feel left out of the conversation. Taeyong seemed calmer than before and even agreed with Doyoung on the children being too loud. Right on cue a loud scream was heard from the other room. 

“Oh god, this is going to be a disaster” Doyoung whispered to himself while getting the plates out of the cupboard. He heard Jaehyun chuckle behind him.  
Unlike Doyoung’s expectation everything went relatively well from then on, since everybody helped with setting the tables and distributing the food and drinks. Mark, Haechan and Haechan’s friends were seated in the kitchen (“I don’t trust them with food around the cushions”) while the rest arranged themselves around the small tables in the living room. To his dismay, Jaehyun was seated next to Taeyong and not next to Doyoung like he secretly wished. At some point during their meal Ten, who was sitting across the table from Doyoung, snapped his fingers in in front of Doyoung’s face to get his attention. 

“What?” Doyoung asked annoyed by the gesture Ten used.

“You haven’t eaten much yet and I’ve been trying to get your attention for the last few minutes. Stop staring at Jaehyun for a second and listen to me.” 

“I wasn’t looking at Jaehyun. I just didn’t want to pay attention to you.” Doyoung fired back albeit his face being flushed by the embarrassment of being caught staring. He didn’t even know why he was paying so much attention to Jaehyun and his interactions with Taeyong.

“You were staring at Jaehyun thought. And you seem to be of today. Why don’t you tell uncle Johnny what’s on your mind?” Johnny piped up from his seat next to Doyoung.

“First of all, never call yourself that ever again and second of all. There is nothing wrong. I am just… observing.” Doyoung answered in hopes of his friend dropping the topic. He felt his gaze wandering to Jaehyun again. He was currently laughing at something Taeyong said. Doyoung felt that strange pull in his chest again that he seemed to have every time he looked at the two boys interacting.

“Would you look at that babe, he is doing it again.” He heard Ten say. It took Doyoung a moment to process the words.

“Wait, did you just call Johnny babe?” He asked. Ten just rolled his eyes at his words and turned to Johnny.

“See, I told you that would get his attention.” He then whipped his head around to scowl at Doyoung.

“You need to tell him that you like him. If you do nothing, he might think he doesn’t have a chance with you, you know? I’m pretty sure that Jaehyun has a thing for you, but you   
have to show him you are interested in him too.”

“Ten, I love you, but you have just met Jaehyun today and there is nothing I could tell him, honestly. You should just enjoy the night and have fun. There is no need to worry about me.” Doyoung could see that Ten and Johnny didn’t believe him. It might be for the tears welling up in his eyes. He didn’t even know why he was being so emotional right then, but couldn’t help hit either. He was probably just moved by his friend’s compassion. Having picked up on Doyoung’s state, they moved on to another topic for the moment. Doyoung knew that they didn’t forget about the situation, since he felt Ten’s hand slide in his a moment later. All he could hope for that the night didn’t end up in disaster.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed the chapter, leave a comment if you like!  
> Have a great day~


	18. What's Hidden in the Dark

By the time they had managed to clean up the kitchen and the living room the moon was already up for a while and Doyoung was glad to see that it wasn’t raining that night. The moon was also up and bright enough to walk without flashlights. They still packed them, just in case. 

Everyone putting their clothes on turned out to be chaotic and Doyoung was pretty sure that Donghyuck ended up wearing one of his brother’s jackets when they finished getting ready for their walk. Doyoung left to get their family dog ready to go outside. He had completely forgotten that he was going to take her with them, when he allowed Donghyuck’s friends to stay and was worried that she would be overwhelmed by how many people were there. He remembered the excitement in the faces of the boys Donghyuck brought along, when he mentioned that they would take the dog with them. Jeno looked wary, but Jaemin explained quickly that Jeno was just more of a cat person but didn’t mind dogs.  
He instructed the others to go out of the front door earlier while went out of the back. He felt the excitement of his dog when she picked up on the voices coming from nearby. Her whole body started to wiggle when they turned the corner. So much for being a good guard dog.

The other boys immediately started cooing when they saw them approach and Doyoung was barely able to hold his dog back.

“Can I hold her?” Mark asked shyly while Doyoung watched Jaehyun giving his dog head scratches. She loved those. Doyoung felt warm at the sight.

“Yes, just make sure to not let go of her leash. Here’s some treats.” Doyoung said distractedly. He handed everything over to Mark and then walked over to Jaehyun for a reason Doyoung didn’t understand. He found himself crouching next to Jaehyun, petting his dog. 

“She loves head scratches you know.” He said in hopes to make Jaehyun happy with his words. And it seemed to work.

“Really? She’s a good girl, very cute. I like her.” For some reason those words made Doyoung’s heart flutter. Before Doyoung could say anything else, Chenle announced that he was ready to go and stomped off in the direction of the forest.

“Be careful not to trip.” Taeyong shouted after him before Doyoung could voice the same concerns.  
Soon all of them made their way to the dark treeline. Doyoung found himself walking near the end of the group, next to Ten and Johnny. Taeyong and Jaehyun were right in front of them and Doyoung felt his heart sink when he saw their arms where linked. Right in front of the whole group were Mark and Haechan, followed by the rest of the boys. Mark was desperately holding onto the leash while Donghyuck marched confidently. Doyoung was sure that Donghyuck would soon loose his cool and probably stick very close to Mark then.

“This is very beautiful; we should do this more often.” Johnny announced after a few minutes of walking. 

“All this fresh air, the shining stars” There was a rustling noise coming from the forest right next to them. “And those weird noises in the forest.” Johnny finished his sentence in an unsure whisper, now gripping Doyoung’s arm tightly. 

“Don’t be such a pussy, it is probably just rats.” Doyoung said, used to the noises the forest made at night. Chenle seemed to have picked up on his last sentence, as he turned to  
Renjun to tell him that the rats might be his family. If there were any more noises, they were drowned out by the loud bickering that ensued after. That was until Mark stopped right in his tracks. Donghyuck walked a few steps ahead and turned around with a confused expression. 

“I think I saw something move over there” Mark said and pointed to a spot to Donghyuck’s left.  
The whole atmosphere changed at that moment and everyone huddled together closely, desperate to have someone close. Doyoung felt fear rising in him, due to the overall panic that has arisen. Normally he wouldn’t pay random noises and shadows any mind, but seeing his friends afraid, seemed to make him unsure. The sudden shift in position left Doyoung sandwiched between Jaehyun and Johnny for some reason, while Ten and Taeyong walked in front of them, attached to each other on one side and to Johnny and Jaehyun at the other side. The presence of the others calmed them down a bit and they continued their walk quietly, some of their flashlights turned on then. To Doyoung’s surprise Jaehyun seemed completely unaffected by the whole ordeal. His hand, the one not holding Taeyong’s, hung loosely next to his body, close enough for Doyoung to just reach out and grab it. But Doyoung did no such thing, having told Jaehyun that he wasn’t afraid during walks at night before. So, there was no valid reason for him to hold onto Jaehyun’s hand. He still felt like he wanted to do just that. He felt a blush creep up his face at his thoughts and was glad that the dark covered the colour in his cheeks.

“How come you are so calm Jaehyun?” Johnny asked, only glancing in Jaehyun’s direction briefly before looking around franticly again.

“There isn’t really anything to fear is there?” Jaehyun answered calmly. Just at that moment Donghyuck screamed and everybody flinched. “There was something touching my shoulder just now.”

Doyoung felt relief wash over him when he heard the reason why Donghyuck was upset. Donghyuck’s scream made him think something bad had happened and adrenaline pumped through his body.

“Relax Hyuckie, that was just a branch of some tree. That happens often when you walk through here.” Doyoung said confidently. It happened to himself often during his walks and he remembers freaking out the first times it did. Despite nothing being wrong, Doyoung started do get wary. What if something happened to them? Seemingly sensing his distress, Jaehyun nudged his shoulder.

“You good?” He whispered close to Doyoung, just for his ears to hear. Doyoung nodded at that but then started to shake his head. Maybe he wasn’t okay after all.

“It all seems more sinister than usual. And I don’t have my dog with me to hold onto.” Doyoung didn’t know why he admitted his fear so easily, but something about Jaehyun’s calm demeanour comforted him. It took Doyoung a while to register that Jaehyun offered him to take his hand. He wasted no time to take it when there was the noise of a pigeon, oddly creepy in the dark of the night. Their walk neared its end when they took the last turn. The outline of Doyoung’s house was already visible through the trees. Doyoung immediately felt lighter at the familiar sight. 

But then something happened that he didn’t expect. The motion alarm on the lamps of the door was triggered, Illuminating the area. 

“Doyoung, is someone else home?” Ten asked and Doyoung shook his head slowly. He was sure that there was a logical explanation for the light turning on, but the rational part of his brain seemed to have shut down completely. He subconsciously pulled Jaehyun closer by his hand, in need of comfort. And then his dog bolted. Mark was so surprised that he wasn’t able to hold her back, so he let go of the leash. They all watched in shock as the dog ran in the direction of the house whit no means of stopping. This was bad. 

“Wait here”, Doyoung said, took a deep breath, freed his hands and started to follow his dog quickly. He wasn’t going to let her get away like that. There surely wasn’t anything supernatural going on, but his dog could be in danger, were it a trespasser or burglar. Maybe Doyoung should’ve thought about that, before he ran off alone. He felt a presence next to him and found that Jaehyun caught up to him, matching his pace.

“I thought you would like some company, fighting some bad person.” In a different context, Doyoung would’ve laughed at that, but he was too worried at that moment.

“Don’t say that.” Doyoung glared at Jaehyun shortly while talking. “Thanks for coming though. I appreciate it.” He decided to add. Jaehyun took his hands carefully.  
They neared the house walking slowly now, hands clasped tightly.

“Remember when I told you that you don’t have to be afraid of ghosts but murderers? This is the part where you should be afraid you know?” Doyoung said with his voice quiet and low to not attract any attention.

“I don’t think that there is something going on though. Surely anyone in their right mind would run when they heard that there are a bunch of loud guys around. It will be fine.”  
Doyoung was amazed at how calm Jaehyun was able to be.

“But I am not going to lie, if I were alone, I would’ve shat my pants already.” Doyoung laughed heartily at that. It sounded distorted as he was nervous about the situation, but Jaehyun didn’t seem to mind. 

“Let’s go then, shall we?” Doyoung finally said.  
They were now close enough to see the area around the door clearly. No dog could be seen.

“Slayer, be a good girl and come here.” Doyoung called and Jaehyun snorted at the name.  
The bushes in front of them started to rustle and after being frozen for a second, they finally saw the face of a dog peeking out of the dry branches. She seemed to be stuck. Doyoung groaned while Jaehyun wasn’t able to hold his laughter. He let go of Doyoung’s hand to turn away to laugh properly at the absurdity of the situation. While Doyoung tried to detangle the leash from the branches, he heard Jaehyun laugh even louder. He was just about to shoot an annoyed comment to Jaehyun, because he wasn’t helping him, when he spotted the source of Jaehyun’s amusement.

One of their cats which Doyoung had completely forgotten about marched past with her nose held high. Slayer let out a breathy bark and tried to go after the cat, but wasn’t able to free herself. Doyoung started to laugh too, the situation too ridiculous to stay serious. They calmed down and Doyoung finally was able to get the dog out of the bushes. Doyoung was just about to suggest that they went to get the others from where they left the others when they heard Jeno shout “Look, there is a cat!” adorably. Doyoung and Jaehyun looked at each other and started laughing again. 

“Let’s go, shall we?” Jaehyun asked eventually and held out his hand for Doyoung to take. Doyoung wondered what the reason for that was. Maybe Jaehyun’s hands were cold? He still took the offered hand and hid his blush by looking at his dog. 

They reunited with the others and explained what happened to them. To Doyoung’s surprise, the group seemed almost relaxed and not so scared anymore. Donghyuck and Mark were still hugging each other and Taeyong surprisingly glued himself to Johnny’s side. 

Doyoung realized that they must’ve been comforted by the sight of Jeno petting the cat with a bright smile on his face.  
A loud creak made everyone jerk and Taeyong timidly asked if they could go inside quickly. All of them were glad to comply since they started to feel cold when they stopped walking to wait for Doyoung and Jaehyun.

Inside they settled comfortably in the living room, most of them sitting on the floor. Doyoung was busy to provide everyone with drinks, while Johnny helped putting snacks in bowls for everyone. 

Eventually Ten spoke up. “Honestly Dons, I have no idea how you do that every day. That shit is scary as fuck.” 

“Normally it isn’t that bad. You kinda made it ten times scarier.” 

“Ten times” Mark uttered between giggles, looking at Ten and Doyoung was shocked to see him being tipsy already. The boy only had a glass of wine until then. The night was going to be long.

Doyoung sat down next to Jaehyun, who was sitting next to Taeyong, who clung to Tens side.

“Should we watch something not scary? Not that I am scared or anything, but others might be.” Donghyuck suggested and earned some eye rolls, since he was obviously shaken and was still clinging to Mark’s side. Now that Mark didn’t have one of his hands occupied with a leash (and was a bit tipsy) he hugged Donghyuck back. Still everyone agreed to watch something light to calm down. What they didn’t agree on was what they should watch.

The fight that broke out was unlike any other fight Doyoung experienced before. The two groups mixed up and new alliances build. Johnny seemed to feel at home with most of the younger boys. Donghyuck was passionately trying to convince everyone to watch the kissing booth, a movie they’ve watched countless times before, to the demise of everyone except Donghyuck. Normally Doyoung would try to make the others watch what he wanted, but that day he was okay with anything, as long as they came to an agreement of any kind.

They ended up watching Shrek. Doyoung wondered if anyone was actually happy with that decision, but decided that he wouldn’t question it, for the sake of everyone’s sanity. As soon as the movie started playing, everyone settled. Mark and Donghyuck tangled up again, after they separated for the argument. Taeyong, Ten and Johnny sat next to each other, their legs entangled and Doyoung wondered how Ten and Taeyong warmed up to each other so quickly. He made a metal note to ask them later. Donghyuck’s friends could just be described as a pile. Doyoung wasn’t even able to see Jaemin anymore. Nevertheless, he had to smile at the sight. They looked comfortable like that. His smile fell when he realized that the only people not cuddling up to anyone were Jaehyun and himself. This revelation distracted Doyoung from the movie (Not that he didn’t know what was happening anyways). In a moment of bravery Doyoung asked what went through his head. 

“Can I lean on you? Everyone looks so comfortable and I don’t want to disturb Johnny, even though he gives the best cuddles.” He regretted his words immediately after he whispered them. His cheeks turned red and he turned away so Jaehyun wouldn’t see. Luckily the others were distracted by the movie playing in the background. Jaehyun didn’t answer for a while and Doyoung began to think that he ruined it. Maybe Jaehyun didn’t want to touch him after they fought. Maybe he just held Doyoung’s hand on their walk earlier because he had pity for him. When he finally turned to Jaehyun to tell him that they didn’t have to, he saw a strange expression in his eyes. Jaehyun looked insecure. Doyoung felt guilty for asking then. Guilty for making Jaehyun uncomfortable. As soon as Jaehyun noticed that he turned around, he smiled and assured him that it was alright. Even after the reassurance Doyoung wasn’t convinced. Something didn’t seem right, and it killed him not to know what was going on. He leaned to his side stiffly, only relaxing when Jaehyun laid his arm loosely around his shoulders. Jaehyun’s muscles weren’t tense like he suspected so he managed to push his thoughts aside for the moment to finally watch what was going on on the screen. It was oddly quiet in the room after that. That was until Chenle made a comment on why it is even important that Donkey finds out that the Dragon is female to fall in love with her. The comment lead to a discussion Doyoung felt unable to stay out of. The cosy atmosphere was gone in an instant and the night turned more into what Doyoung was used to with his friends. Lots of banter and drinks after the movie ended. Even though they drank a lot, nobody seemed to be fully drunk, just slightly exhilarated. They exchanged stories with Donghyuck’s friends and Doyoung was happy to see that they fit right into their group. After getting to know them better, it felt like they belonged.

By the time they decided to go to bed, Donghyuck and Mark already fell asleep on the couch and they decided to let them stay there since it would be crowded in Doyoung’s room anyways. Also no one wanted to disturb them when Donghyuck was buried in Mark’s chest, while the older boy had his arms wrapped around Donghyuck tightly.  
When all of them found a place to sleep and enough blankets and pillows to be comfortable, Doyoung found himself between Jeno and Jaehyun. He was far too nervous to sleep. Jeno had his turned away from him while Jaehyun laid on his back. Doyoung felt the warmth radiate from his body. Every breath rang in his ears. It should be no big deal. He slept in his room with other people before. There should be no difference now. After a while of just thinking Doyoung concluded that there must be more to the emotions bubbling up whenever Jaehyun was nearby or immediately around him. Never did he feel this nervous around his friends or other people, so there just had to be something different about Jaehyun compared to his friends. 

He was close to getting lost in his thoughts even more when an idea that he desperately tried to supress until that moment took over. It felt like an epiphany. But it couldn’t be the case. But what if was? That would explain a lot. The giggling, the tingling sensation in his stomach when Jaehyun did something cute, the will to put in effort in resolving their fight. What if all this time, he was slowly, but surely falling for Jaehyun? What if he was simply trying so hard to make things work out with Jaehyun as a friend to be able to keep him close? Did he really confess his love when he was intoxicated? He cringed at the thought and hoped that at least that was a lie, made up just to tease him. 

Then he looked over to Jaehyun who was now soundly asleep, snoring quietly, completely unaware of the elder's inner turmoil. And in that moment of just laying there next to Jaehyun, looking at him in the dim light, listening to his snores, Doyoung knew that he was deeply and utterly screwed.  
 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed the chapter, feel free to leave a comment!


	19. Too close

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is short but loaded, enjoy!

The first thing he noticed in the morning was warmth. It lulled him right back to sleep. The second time he woke up he noticed that one of his sides was cold. He pulled the blankets closer to himself and cuddled closer to the body next to him. It was probably Johnny. It took Doyoung a while to notice that the person next to him was indeed not Johnny, but Jeno. A person he just met the day before. To avoid any awkward situations, he decided to just get up careful not to wake anyone. Unsurprisingly, some of the guys who slept in the room where already up. Doyoung hoped they didn’t do any permanent damage yet. 

When he left the room, he was taken aback by the lack of loud noises from the living area. A glance in the living room made him smile however. Mark and Donghyuck where still curled up on the couch together, but Chenle and Jisung somehow managed to squeeze in there too, practically laying on top of the other boys. None of them seemed to mind the rather uncomfortable position and Doyoung briefly wondered if Mark and Donghyuck were aware of the other two. His thoughts were interrupted by soft whispers and the clatter from a whisk in a bowl from the kitchen. Johnny should be there alongside Jaehyun and Taeyong. He passed by the sitting area quietly to not disturb the others but stopped immediately when he heard his name. He didn’t plan to listen in on the conversation but he could help it. Something in Jaehyun’s tone sounded almost pained.

“I don’t think I can stand being that close to Doyoung. This night he clung to my shirt and I had no idea what to do about that. Help me Taeyong. Please.” Something in Doyoung broke at hearing those words. He was right all along, Jaehyun was just nice to him. He didn’t want to be close. Johnny passed him with a cheerful greeting. He probably used the bathroom, while Doyoung learned something so devastating. He wanted to scream, he wanted to cry. Instead he asked: 

“Did you let Taeyong and Jaehyun into the kitchen to cook?”  
Johnny turned around; confusion evident on his face.

“Yeah, why? They’re making pancakes for everyone; I hope you don’t mind.” Normally Doyoung would do that. It was his job to prepare breakfast. (Given the few times that one of the others tried to cook something edible ended in disaster). He guessed he wasn’t needed then so he went back to his room to see Ten sprawled out over multiple matrasses. Unceremoniously Doyoung let himself fall onto the body; his only wish was to find some comfort. Even though Ten seemed shocked by the sudden movement, but he picked up on the mood quickly. 

“Wanna talk about it?” He said sleepily. Doyoung just shook his head. He didn’t want to explain. Possibly not ever. He was confused. He expected tears to spill out the minute he had someone comforting him. But there were none. He just felt numb. After a while shuffling could be heard and the three other boys left in the room moved themselves closer. Doyoung felt a comforting hand on his back. Jeno, he realized. In the dim lit room Doyoung was able to make out a very awkward expression on Jeno’s face. The younger didn’t seem to know how to deal with situations like that very well. It almost made Doyoung smile. Almost. The next few minutes were silent. Just breathing was heard. Then Johnny barged in the room. 

“Time to get up, Taeyong and Jaehyun made pancakes for all of us.” At those words Doyoung felt Ten’s worried gaze on him. Sometimes Ten knew too much. 

Everyone except Ten and Doyoung got up to get their breakfast, Jeno looking back one last time before turning to leave. Doyoung was already thinking about ways to never face Jaehyun again, when he decided that he could be angry at Jaehyun. Jaehyun led him on after all. He didn’t have to be nice to Doyoung. He didn’t have to offer taking his hands. It was his own fault that Doyoung searched his company (and touch). With anger he could deal. Being angry at Jaehyun was so much easier than to deal with his other emotions. Feelings that he only realized he had the night before. The thought made him even angrier. Why did Jaehyun have to ruin everything when Doyoung just felt comfortable with him. He also remembers their fight from earlier that week. Jaehyun seemed to be so honest back then, so open with his feelings. But It all turned out to be lies. Screw Jaehyun.  
Confident in his decision to just be angry at Jaehyun until he left the house he got up, startling Ten in the process. 

“Are you alright Dons? Are you sure you don’t want to tell me what’s up?”

“Jup, all fine, sorry for waking you like that.” He talked too fast and he knew that Ten was able to hear that something was very wrong with him. He didn’t care. He stomped into the kitchen, determined to stick to his being angry plan. The first thing he did was greet everyone cheerily (All of them were awake by now) but ignoring Jaehyun’s greeting pointedly. He knew he was childish; he knew he was being unreasonable but he couldn’t help it. He wanted to hurt Jaehyun like he hurt him. (What if Jaehyun didn’t even care?) 

“Thank you for making breakfast, Taeyong.” He added for good measure, giving Taeyong an extra sweet smile.

“Jaehyun helped too, you know.” Taeyong told him timidly, visibly confused. (Curse him being so nice.)

Doyoung simply nodded at that, without even looking at Jaehyun. Everyone stared at him in shock. Ten also joined them by then. There was one pair of eyes that burned especially and Doyoung did his best to supress his rising sadness. 

“What are you looking at, just start eating. Taeyong made pancakes for us after all.” No one moved.

“Doyoung.” Hearing Jaehyun call his name like that, laced with sadness and confusion, made tears rise in Doyoung’s eyes.

“Shut up and eat.” Doyoung interrupted any possible follow-up words. Jaehyun was a good actor. Or maybe he just didn’t like being snapped at. Doyoung tried not to care. Breakfast went by without anyone talking. Doyoung noticed to late that his actions affected everyone around him. He was selfish. The others didn’t deserve that kind of treatment. 

Doyoung broke the silence to tell the others that he was going to use the bathroom. He needed to clear his thoughts for a while. He was glad to notice that nobody followed him. He just needed to be alone for a while. His friends probably started to discuss his weird behaviour by now, wondering what the hell was wrong with him. He managed to fuck up the impression Donghyuck’s friends had of him in the prosses of coping with his own feelings. He was an asshole. Leaving the bathroom didn’t seem like an option. He just hoped that Johnny and Donghyuck somehow managed to lighten the mood by the time he finally calmed down enough to face the others.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed the chapter, feel free to let me know what you think!  
> Have a nice day~


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